Duenweg Sex Offender Charged with Online Child Sex Shows

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a registered sex offender in Duenweg, Mo., has been charged in federal court with paying to watch online sex shows with children in the Philippines.

Paul L. Sipeer, 65, of Duenweg, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. The complaint charges Sipeer with receiving child pornography over the Internet. Sipeer had his initial court appearance today and remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016.

Sipeer is a registered sex offender with a 1992 conviction for sexual abuse in the first degree involving the physical harm of a 7-year-old child.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents learned that Sipeer was conducting online money transfers between $10 and $20 several times a month during the summer of 2015 to individuals in the Philippines.

Money transfers, conducted through Western Union and MoneyGram, are often used to send funds to pay for sexual performances by children in the Philippines. In prior investigations conducted by HSI, small amounts of money, typically between $5 and $100, are often sent to individuals in the Philippines. In return, the recipients would have young children perform sexual acts on webcams for the senders. Often the senders would send additional payments for continued and/or repeat performances.

Upon further investigation, the affidavit says, agents learned that Sipeer had making money transfers to various individuals in the Philippines since January 2013, in amounts ranging up to $480.

On Jan. 26, 2016, law enforcement officers contacted Sipeer at his residence. According to the affidavit, Sipeer told the officers he sent money to the Philippines to pay for “sex shows.”  Sipeer said he has sent approximately $1,200 to the Philippines in total.

Sipeer consented to a search of his residence, including his computer. Officers located images of child pornography during a preview of Sipeer’s computer.

Dickinson cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."