30 years in prison for US man who exploited Filipino girls

WASHINGTON, United States — A Chicago man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos from young girls in the Philippines.

Karl Quilter, 58, pleaded guilty last year to sexual exploitation of children, the US Attorney's Office for the North District of Illinois said.

Quilter was sentenced to 30 years in a federal prison by US District Judge Virginia Kendall, the US Attorney's Office said in a statement on Friday.

Quilter enticed at least nine girls in the Philippines to produce sexually explicit photos and videos and send them to him via Facebook, Viber, and Skype between 2017 and 2020, it said.

Quilter "preyed on the victims' financial difficulties, using money transfers to the victims' families to entice the girls to record the sexually explicit images," the US Attorney's Office said.

"Victim by victim, and message by message, defendant used social media and the internet to target and groom young Filipino girls," Assistant US attorney Ashley Chung said in the government's sentencing memorandum.

"This was not a one-time aberration, but rather a years-long pattern of predatory abuse and exploitation of minors," Chung said.

Quilter was arrested in Chicago in November 2020.