LAND O’ LAKES, FL — A Land O’ Lakes man has been sentenced to life in federal prison for paying a child sex-trafficking ring in the Philippines to produce videos of children being sexually abused for his own use.
On Thursday in Tampa, Senior U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington sent Christopher John Streeter, 63, to prison for life for his involvement in sex trafficking involving children under the age of 14. Streeter pleaded guilty on Oct. 15.
According to court documents, from September 2018 through June 2019, Streeter, who owned a yacht brokerage and repair business, paid to have child sex abuse videos produced using children in the Philippines.
Courtesy Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
The children —some as young as 12 and 13 years old —were particularly vulnerable due to poverty and illness, according to Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa.
The money Streeter sent to the sex-trafficking ring in the Philippines covered various production costs, hotel rooms, transportation and a commission for the recruiting of children by the sex traffickers. In return, Streeter received videos and images of children taking part of various sex acts, which Streeter told the recruiters to have them perform.
The Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force of the Middle District of Florida said Streeter paid top dollar for videos and photos showing young girls losing their virginity and enduring various forms of sexual violence. He paid additional money for emergency contraception pills and, when the sex acts resulted in pregnancies, for abortions, for the girls.
One of Streeter’s victims was a 12-year-old girl from Ozamis, Philippines. On multiple occasions in 2018 and 2019, Streeter met with a Philippine sex-trafficking recruiter named Analyn Tababini in Tampa Bay and arranged to have sex-abuse videos made using the 12-year-old girl.
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The funds Streeter paid included production costs, money for the man who abused the girl, money for the girl, hotel expenses and a commission for Tababini. In return, Tababini sent Streeter several videos of girl being sexually abused.
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The Homeland Security Investigations Transnational National Criminal Investigative Unit in Manila discovered that, in addition to working for Streeter, Tababini oversaw the production of internet sex shows of children for an array of international clientele.
During an operation conducted by the Philippine National Police in Ozamis, six of Tababini’s child sex-trafficking victims (including the 12-year-old girl) were rescued by the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development. Philippine authorities arrested Tababini and executed three search warrants to obtain evidence for their case against her.
Homeland Security Investigations Tampa Acting Deputy Special Agent in Charge Micah C. McCombs thanked the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office for partnership with Homeland Security to put Streeter behind bars.
“This morally corrupt individual thought he could circumvent justice because of international borders,” said McCombs. “Leveraging HSI’s unique international authorities and our strong law enforcement partnership with the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, this human trafficker will now face the justice he deserves.”
“I am proud of the partnership that we have with the Department of Homeland Security,” said Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco. “We are proud of the hard work of our members that resulted in saving children and getting the perpetrator of these heinous acts out of our community.”
The Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force of the Middle District of Florida is one of 13 task forces in the country to receive grant funding from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. The task force is a collaboration of local, state and federal law enforcement agents who investigate and prosecute human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area.
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