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Press Release

Man Who Regularly Visited The Philippines As A Child Sex Tourist Sentenced To 330 Years In Federal Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida

Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington has sentenced David Paul Lynch (56, Venice) to 330 years in federal prison for traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and for possessing, receiving, and producing child pornography. The Court also ordered him to forfeit his home in Venice, Florida, as well as computers and other electronic devices that he had used to commit the offenses.

A federal jury found Lynch guilty on October 13, 2017.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Lynch traveled to the Philippines regularly between 2005 and 2016 to have sex with children and make recordings of the abuse. Prior to his trips, he communicated online with individuals in the Philippines in order to locate children to sexually exploit. Lynch produced child pornography of at least three Filipino children on these visits, and he solicited child pornography via email of a fourth. He was arrested in San Francisco as he attempted to board a flight to the Philippines on December 30, 2016. During a simultaneous search of his home in Venice, FBI agents located dozens of self-produced images and videos of child pornography from his trips.

“The FBI is focused not only on the children being victimized here at home, but those across the globe who are being preyed upon by offenders," said FBI Tampa Division Special Agent in Charge Eric W. Sporre. "Thanks to our strong law enforcement partnerships, there are no borders in these types of cases and
we can achieve great outcomes as demonstrated in this case."

This case was investigated by the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Sarasota Police Department, the Cape Coral Police Department, the Bradenton Police Department, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer L. Peresie and Eric K. Gerard.

It is another case 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 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.justice.gov/psc.

Updated February 23, 2018

Topic
Project Safe Childhood