Carl Sara, a 63-year-old American has pleaded guilty to attempting to have sex with an eight-year-old Filipino girl.
According to his plea agreement, Sara, from Springfield, Virginia, watched live-streamed child abuse and engaged in sexually explicit chat with children.
During some of these chats in 2013, Sara tried to persuade a Filipina to let her eight-year old daughter have sex with him during a planned visit to the Philippines.
He paid her $200 dollars via Western Union as a down-payment and offered to pay her another $300 after he had sex with the girl.
Sara faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced on December 8.
Altogether Sara has been found guilty of with one count each of attempted sex trafficking of children, attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sex, traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors and transportation and possession of child pornography.
Court documents did not reveal the location of the eight-year-old girl, or whether any action has been taken to prosecute her mother.
Accomplices of Carl Sara
In recent months, several so-called ‘cyberporn dens’ have been raided across the Philippines, many in conjunction with assistance from the International Justice Mission (IJM), an international group that works to protect women and children living in poverty.
The case against Sara was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
The project brings together federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, click here.
Like and follow our page on Facebook