Foreign Service member indicted for engaging in illicit sexual conduct, child pornography possession

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - A member of the Foreign Service has been indicted Tuesday on charges of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and possession of child pornography.

PHOTO: Alexandria Sheriff's Office

According to the indictment and court documents, Dean Cheves, 61, between September 2020 and February 2021, was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, serving at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines.

While in the Philippines, Cheves allegedly met a 16-year-old online. Court documents further detail that Cheves allegedly engaged in sexual activity with the minor on two occasions, knowing the minor’s age, and produced cell phone videos of himself engaging in the sex acts each time.

The videos were found on Cheves’s devices seized from his embassy residence while in the Philippines. Between February 2021 and March 2021, he also allegedly possessed child pornography.

Cheves is charged with one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and one count of possessing child pornography in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or on lands owned or leased by the United States.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison on count one and up to 10 years in prison on count two.

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The Diplomatic Security Service, Office of Special Investigations is investigating the case.