A Maryland man pleaded guilty on July 22 to charges related to purchasing livestreams of Filipino children engaging in sexual activity. Philip Andrew Turner, 47, of Linthicum Heights, admitted guilt to coercion and enticement in federal court.
According to his plea agreement, from November 2017 through March 2018, Turner used Skype to persuade and coerce minor victims living in the Philippines into sexual activity. He communicated with a known Filipino trafficker who sold access to minors and directed them during live-streamed sessions in exchange for monetary payment. Law enforcement recovered Turner’s chats with the trafficker from the platform’s server. Investigators found that Turner facilitated about 110 Skype calls and exchanged approximately 40 media files containing images of Filipino children for him to select participants for live-streamed sexual activity. Several files included child sexual abuse material.
Turner paid for these activities using online electronic financial transactions. Records show that between 2017 and 2025, he completed 437 successful payments totaling more than $29,000 to traffickers in the Philippines. On October 28, 2025, law enforcement executed a federal warrant at Turner’s residence in Anne Arundel County. During the search, they recovered a laptop open to his Skype account; forensic analysis revealed recent downloads of over 600 images of child sexual abuse material using the Tor network between October 11 and October 21.
Turner faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years and up to life imprisonment for coercion and enticement. Sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge after consideration of U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child exploitation nationwide through coordination among federal, state, and local agencies.
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