THE Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) is still considering its next move on the case against a former American embassy official who allegedly engaged in sexual activity with a minor while posted in the country.
In a statement, DOJ Undersecretary and spokesperson Emmeline Villar said that the agency is assessing whether to request for extradition or just assist its counterpart in the United States in pursuing the case against U.S. diplomat Dean Cheves.
“We are still considering two options at the moment: first, his extradition which is still being studied by the DOJ together with the [Department of Foreign Affairs]; and second, providing assistance to the U.S. under the PH-U.S. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) in Criminal Matters in connection with the criminal cases filed against Cheves in the U.S.,” he said.
He added that the options are not mutually exclusive and can be pursued at the same time.
The MLAT provides for the sharing of information and evidence related to criminal investigations and prosecutions.
In August, the Philippines issued a warrant of arrest against Cheves for violation of Republic Act 7610 or the Child Abuse Law, and Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act.
The Pasay Regional Trial Court, in its arrest warrant, ordered law enforcement agents to arrest Cheves and “bring him forthwith before this Court to be dealt with according to law.”
A bail of P200,000 was set by the court for each case.
However, Cheves was sent back to the U.S. in March, as previously reported by the Asian Journal.
Cheves served at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines between September 2020 and February 2021.
A Virginia court likewise indicted him for sexual relations with a minor.
Court documents detailed that Cheves allegedly engaged in sexual activity with the minor on two occasions, knowing the minor’s age, and produced cell phone videos of himself engaging in the sex acts each time.
The videos were reportedly found on Cheves’s devices seized from his embassy residence while in the Philippines.
He also allegedly possessed child pornography between February to March 2021.
He is charged with one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and one count of possessing child pornography in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. or on lands owned or leased by the U.S. (AJPress)
