The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will request the extradition of the 61-year-old American diplomat who was indicted in the United States for having sex with a Filipino minor while posted in Manila if Philippine authorities could determine that the offense committed is “extraditable.”
According to DFA Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications Eduardo Meñez, there is a committee headed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that is tasked to deliberate on such request for extradition.
“If the committee determines the offense to be extraditable and in favor of the victim, then DFA will request, but it is up to (the) foreign government to decide if they wish to have their national extradited,” Meñez told reporters.
The DFA official noted there are “legal details” that need to be determined, “including (the) extent of immunity and if it extends beyond retirement”.
On August 3, 2021, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia in the United States indicted Dean Cheves, a member of the US Foreign Service posted at the US Embassy in Manila between September 2020 and February 2021, for engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and possession of child pornography.
According to the court documents, Cheves allegedly met a 16-year-old girl online and allegedly engaged in sexual activity with her on two occasions. Cheves even produced cell phone videos of himself while engaging in the sex acts each time. The videos were found on his devices seized from his embassy residence while in the Philippines. Between February 2021 and March 2021, he also allegedly possessed child pornography.
Over the weekend, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the department is studying possible courses of action against Cheves who has been charged in the US for having sex with a Filipino minor while stationed in the Philippines.
“The DOJ is studying possible courses of action against a former US embassy staff stationed in Manila who was recently indicted in the US for illicit sexual conduct with a 16-year old Filipina and possession of child pornographic materials during his assignment in the Philippines,” Guevarra said Saturday.