Man sentenced to 30 years in prison for exploiting 9 Filipino girls

A man from Chicago was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting at least nine Filipino girls online.

Karl Quilter, 58, pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of sexual exploitation of children and was handed the sentence on July 7, 2023.

In a press Statement from the Northern District of Illinois Attorney’s Office, Quilter admitted in a plea agreement that he communicated with the girls via Facebook, Viber, and Skype from 2017 to 2020.

Quilter referred to the minor victims as his "girlfriends" to manipulate and pressure them into sending specific types of photos and videos that he demanded. He also preyed on the victims’ financial difficulties, using money transfers to the victims’ families to entice the girls to take the sexually explicit images. 

Law enforcement arrested Quilter in Chicago in November 2020.

Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois said, "Victim by victim, and message by message, defendant used social media and the internet to target and groom young Filipino girls.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley A. Chung argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum that "this was not a one-time aberration, but rather a years-long pattern of predatory abuse and exploitation of minors." —VAL, GMA Integrated News