Former JBLM-based soldier gets 22 years for child sex-related crimes

A former active-duty soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) was sentenced to 22 years in jail for multiple sex-related crimes involving young children in the Philippines.

Former Staff Sergeant Moeun Yoeun, 40, of Steilacoom, was sentenced on February 16 at the U.S. District Court, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a press release.

In August 2022, Yoeun pleaded guilty to sex trafficking children, producing images of child sexual abuse, and traveling to sexually abuse children.

Yoeun admitted to traveling to the Philippines and engaging in sexual acts with at least six children in exchange for money and that he would threaten young Filipina children with death if they refused his sexual assaults.

Yoeun confessed in his plea agreement that he used adult and child Philippine residents to recruit over a dozen other kids to produce pornography over the course of several years, according to the DOJ.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle described the crimes as “vicious, heinous, and cruel.” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said Yoeun “weaponized his position of trust as a noncommissioned officer in the United States Army, to sexually exploit and cause irreversible trauma to impoverished girls in the Philippines.”

“This lengthy sentence is necessary to deter Mr. Yoeun and others who prey on children,” Brown added.

Prosecutors pointed out that the victims have been put at an elevated risk of alcohol abuse, illicit drug use, sexual promiscuity, and suicide by Yoeun’s crimes, as shown by multiple studies on the long-term damage suffered by child sex abuse victims.

Yoeun will have to register as a sex offender after his release from prison. He will also be under federal supervision for 15 years.

The case was investigated by the FBI and U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, with assistance from the Philippine National Police, as part of Project Safe Childhood. The nationwide initiative, launched by the DOJ in 2006, aims to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.