iJacky / Depositphotos.com
An investigation into child sexual abuse that began in Washington County has gone international.
Washington County Sheriff’s Detective Tim Kemps said that the investigation began with the arrest last July of 35-year-old Michael Westphal of Newberg. He’s in jail on a half-million-dollar cash bail awaiting trial on numerous felony charges related to child sexual abuse. Evidence suggests that Westphal was communicating with a child sex trafficker in the Philippines, sending money there in exchange for videos and pictures of a small child being sexually assaulted. Westphal was under the belief that the money would cover the costs of adopting that child, making it easier for Westphal to receive further videos, and funding a trip to meet the child and trafficker in-person.
Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis said his department began working with agents from Homeland Security, who then worked with the Philippine National Police and Bureau of Investigations, who conducted a raid in the Philippines on Monday. Six children ranging in ages from two to fifteen were rescued, including Westphal’s alleged victim, while three traffickers were apprehended there and will now face their own charges.
Sheriff Schulteis praised the “advocates across the globe who came together under the common goal of setting them free while bringing the perpetrators who committed the heinous crimes to justice.”
Comments