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American who hit it off with 2 Filipino girls charged in US

By Michaela P. del Callar

10/22/2009

A 64-year old American was charged before a US court for engaging in sex with two minor Filipino girls in 2007 and 2008, the US Department of Justice said yesterday.

Donald Mathias faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if found guilty. Charges in a complaint or indictment are merely accusations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, the US DOJ said.

Mathias was arrested in Florida, and arraigned last week before the Miami district court.

According to the criminal complaint against him, Mathias engaged in sex with two minor girls in his trips to the Philippines in 2007 and 2008. An affidavit supporting the complaint said Mathias arranged trips and the meetings with the girls through their mother.

“While it is disturbing that the Internet is used to organize such heinous crimes involving minor children, the excellent international cooperation between Philippine and U.S. law enforcement made possible these two arrests and should serve as a warning,” said US Ambassador Kristie Kenney.

Philippine authorities arrested the victims’ mother in Tacloban City, Leyte, in December last year while she and all three of her daughters aged 9 to 14 were on their way to meet Mathias.

The two elder daughters told authorities that Mathias had previously abused them and they were on their way to meet him again.

The victims’ mother was charged with child abuse and trafficking in persons and is now being prosecuted in Tacloban City.

The arrests of Mathias and the girls’ mother resulted from a tip from a concerned citizen who, with assistance from the non-governmental organization PLAN Philippines, reported the abuse of the victims to the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Philippine authorities coordinated with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit at the U.S. Embassy in Manila in pursuing the case against Mathias.