Philippine Court Orders Arrest Of Former US Diplomat In Child Sexual Abuse Case

The Philippine Department of Justice said on Friday it is exploring ways to extradite a former US diplomat to the Philippines after a local court ordered his arrest on charges of sexually abusing a minor during his service in Manila.

Charges of child abuse and child pornography against the former diplomat, 61-year-old Dean Edward Cheves, were filed before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court earlier this month upon a complaint by the victim’s mother.

Cheves was a member of the US Foreign Service serving as first secretary at the US Embassy in Manila between September 2020 and February 2021.

The Pasay court on Monday issued an arrest warrant for him for violating the country’s Child Abuse Law and the Anti-Child Pornography Act.

“We are still studying the feasibility of extradition,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told Arab News. To face prosecution in the Philippines, Cheves needs to be extradited from the US, where he is facing similar charges.

The US Department of Justice earlier this month disclosed that Cheves had been charged by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia with “engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and possession of child pornography” while serving in Manila. It remains unclear if the charges Cheves is facing in the US are related to the case registered in the Philippines.

“The US side has not requested any assistance at this time in connection with Dean Cheves’ prosecution in the US,” Guevarra said, adding that authorities are investigating the involvement of “another foreign national involved in the same incidents that led to criminal charges against Chevez.”

Declining to comment on whether the second suspect remains in the Philippines, Guevarra said: “We’ll provide more information after he is arrested.”

According to Pasay court charges, Cheves met the victim, now 16, several times in February. The documents also cite the victim as saying she had been in touch with Cheves online since she was 12 or 13 years old.

Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar said the Department of Justice is examining the possibility of “availing the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (with the US) to exchange evidence that may help us in our case against Cheves and may also help in the case against Cheves in the US District Court in Virginia.”