Former staff sergeant at JBLM pleads guilty to sex trafficking, child pornography charges
(Centralia, Wash.) Chronicle
The Department of Justice recently announced former Army Staff Sgt. Moeun Yoeun, who was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Western Washington, pleaded guilty to charges related to traveling to a foreign country with the intent to engage in sexual activity with minors, sex trafficking of minors and producing child pornography.
In the U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday, Yoeun admitted to using both adult and child residents in the Philippines to recruit more than a dozen children to make child pornography over the course of several years, stated a news release. He also admitted to personally traveling to the Philippines to engage in sexual activity with at least six of the children named in his plea agreement. Yoeun was originally arrested in March of 2019.
According to the DOJ news release, per his plea agreement, Yoeun pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking of children, one count of production of child pornography and one count of engaging in illicit sexual activity in a foreign place. In exchange for the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed not to charge any additional offenses based on current evidence.
Yoeun is facing a minimum 15-year prison sentence but could be sentenced to life in prison when his official sentencing hearing begins on Dec. 5, depending on what U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle decides. Should Yoeun avoid a life sentence, he will be required to register as a sex offender following his release from prison and could face federal supervision for the rest of his life, stated the release.
The FBI, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division and Philippine National Police collaborated in the investigation and the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Grady J. Leupold and Matthew P. Hampton. This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 aiming to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation.