Singaporean Amos Yee jailed in the US for grooming 14-year-old girl, possessing child porn
SINGAPORE: Singaporean Amos Yee was sentenced to six years’ jail by a United States court after he pleaded guilty to grooming a 14-year-old girl online and asking her for naked pictures of herself.
Yee, 23, pleaded guilty early Friday (Dec 3) morning, Singapore time, to charges of grooming and possessing child pornography. Sixteen other charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
The court in Illinois heard that Yee befriended the victim, a 14-year-old girl, in February 2019 when he was living in Cook County. He was 20 years old at the time.
Yee met the victim online and they began an “online courtship”, during which Yee “repeatedly requested” her to send him naked photos of herself, the court was told.
On several occasions, Yee asked her to engage in roleplay and "sexual fantasies", including asking her to show him her body, said special prosecutor Assistant State Attorney Marcell Taylor.
Yee did this despite the victim informing him that she was 14 years old at the time of the offences. This went on until July 2019, the court heard.
“You used the Internet, specifically WhatsApp ... to seduce, solicit and lure (the victim) and then you distributed photographs of (her) on a site,” Judge Carol Howard said.
The court heard previously that Yee was arrested by US Marshals in October 2020 at his apartment in Chicago’s Norwood Park East neighbourhood.
Yee has been on remand in the US since his arrest and was charged last year.
He appeared in court on Friday via video link and spoke only to waive his right to a jury trial and to plead guilty to the charges, after agreeing to the plea deal.
Yee was granted asylum in the US more than four years ago. Judge Howard told him he may be deported back to Singapore and may be denied entry to the US in future.
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.
In 2017, Yee was granted asylum in the US by a US immigration court, despite opposition from the Department of Homeland Security.
