A United States District Judge has sentenced 64-year-old Ronald Carey Shirley for his part in receiving child pornography from Vietnamese and Filipino children.
The Simi Valley accountant and former Major League Baseball executive received a 20-year sentence in Federal prison after he pleaded ‘guilty’ to receiving child pornography and victimizing girls from the Philippines.
An initial investigation into the incident showed that Homeland Security (HSI) received a lead from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children about suspected child sexual exploitation activity linked to a specific social media account belonging to Shirley.
With the help of the Philippines National Police and HSI’s office in Manila, the group apprehended Shirley as he was boarding a flight to Vietnam to visit minors he had communicated with on social media.
Shirley has been incarcerated since February on the charges and was sentenced to 20-years in prison as well as life-time supervised parole for his part in victimizing young children.
“As a result of our partnership with the Philippines National Police Anti-Cyber Crime Group, we were able to locate and obtain damaging evidence from the victims that proved Shirley coerced them to send sexually explicit images,” stated HSI Attaché Ransom Avilla. “We will continue to work with the PNP to prevent predators from preying upon children in the Philippines. Our joint effort resulted in the judge sentencing Shirley to additional years in prison.”
“This sentence should serve as a sobering warning to every sexual predator who thinks they can hide from the law by violating the innocence of children overseas,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of HSI Los Angeles.
“There can be no place for the abuse of foreign children by our citizens, and HSI will seek to vindicate the rights of those victims no matter how far they live from our shores.”