Singaporean Amos Yee released from US prison on parole after serving time for sex-related offences

SINGAPORE: Singaporean Amos Yee was released on parole on Saturday (Oct 7), halfway through his six-year jail term in the US for grooming a teenage girl online and asking her for naked pictures of herself.

Yee, 24, was sentenced on Dec 3, 2021, after pleading guilty to charges of grooming and possessing child pornography. Sixteen other charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal that Yee had agreed to. His jail term was backdated to his arrest in October 2020.

His projected release date was Oct 8, 2026, but he was released about three years early after his parole hearing on Friday.

According to a message from the victim notification network on Saturday Singapore time, Yee was released and granted parole or placed on mandatory supervised released status.

"Therefore, this offender is no longer in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections as of Oct 7, 2023," said the message.

The Illinois Department of Corrections did not reveal the conditions of his parole. Yee is required to be listed on the sex offender registry.

In response to CNA's queries about Yee's asylum status and if he will be deported to Singapore, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Oct 13 that it was unable to comment at this time "due to privacy concerns".

CNA has also contacted the US Department of Justice for more information.

The court heard previously that Yee befriended the victim, a 14-year-old girl, in February 2019 when he was living in Cook County, Illinois. Yee was 20 then.

He met the victim online and they began an “online courtship”, during which Yee repeatedly asked for her naked photos.

On occasions, he asked her to engage in roleplay and “sexual fantasies”, said the prosecution. This was despite the victim telling him that she was 14 years old. This went on until July 2019.

The court heard he used WhatsApp to “seduce, solicit and lure” the victim, then distributed photographs of her online.

Yee was arrested by US marshals in October 2020 at his apartment in Chicago’s Norwood Park East neighbourhood. He was held on remand until his guilty plea and sentencing.

He waived his right to a jury trial and pleaded guilty to the charges after a plea deal was agreed.

During his sentencing, the judge said he may be deported back to Singapore and denied entry to the US in the future.

It has been more than six years since Yee was granted asylum by a US immigration court, despite opposition from the Department of Homeland Security.

This was not Yee’s first brush with the law.

In 2015, Yee was jailed in Singapore for wounding religious feelings by making remarks about Christians. About a year later, Yee was jailed again and fined on a similar charge, this time for making remarks about Christians and Muslims.