Kansas man who filmed himself having sex with minors in the Philippines sentenced to 84 years in prison
A Kansas man who traveled to the Philippines and filmed himself having sex with minors has been sentenced to 84 years in prison.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and US Attorney Stephen R. McAllister of the District of Kansas announced the sentencing of Anthony Shultz, 56, in a press release this past week.
Shultz, a helicopter pilot from Lindsborg, admitted to traveling to the Philippines and engaging in sex acts with minors. He also admitted to videotaping his sexual encounters with two minors and transporting the videos to his home in Kansas, where he then sold them.
One of the victims was just 12 years old, while the other was 15. In one of the videos he filmed, he can be seen giving the latter money after having sex with her.
Furthermore, the 56-year-old produced child pornography of an eight-year-old girl in the Philippines by communicating on Skype with her mother and then directing the mother to expose her daughter's genitals and live stream it on web camera.
Following an investigation by the FBI, Shultz was charged by criminal complaint in 2016.
The case was prosecuted by trial attorney Lauren E. Britsch of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant US Attorney Jason Hart of the District of Kansas.
In a statement, they said, "The case began in April 2016 when the FBI received a tip that a US citizen was sexually abusing minors in the Philippines, producing live-streaming videos and distributing videos via the internet to users who paid to see them."
In July 2018, he pleaded guilty to three counts of producing child pornography before U.S. District Judge Eric F. Melgren of the District of Kansas.
The case was reportedly developed as a part of Project Safe Childhood, which is described as "a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice."
"Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims," the DOJ said.