Army vet sentenced to life for raping kids, making child porn

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 

Michael Carey Clemans was sentenced to life in federal prison on Tuesday for buying Filipino children for sex and pornography.(AP)

A 57-year-old Army vet was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for raping Filipino children as young as 7 and using them to produce pornography in a harrowing case of exploitation.

Michael Carey Clemans of Sacramento, Calif., paid a Filipino woman named Lyan Tendang $6,000 for equipment to photograph naked children, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

U.S. District Judge John Mendez, who called the crimes “unthinkable,” said, “He has taken away the childhood of those victims.”

Clemans was working as a pilot in Bangkok, Thailand, when he began corresponding with Tendang in 2014.

Clemans, who returned to California to live with his mother in 2015, directed Tendang to find vulnerable victims including orphans and victims of typhoons, according to court documents.

He also paid another conspirator, Shellina Atad, to obtain temporary custody of Filipino children.

Prosecutors said he gave detailed instructions on how young girls should be posed, how their hair should be cut, whether they should wear makeup or have their bodies oiled.

“His true plan was to find young girls, virgins, and then go have sex with them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andre Espinosa said. “A 57-year-old man doesn’t have sex with a 7-year-old girl — he rapes her.”

McGregor Scott, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, discusses the sentencing of Michael Carey Clemans, during a news conference. (RICH PEDRONCELLI/AP)

At one point, authorities said Clemans was communicating with more than 50 child pornography providers and obtained more than 27,000 child pornography images.

Three of the children who were forced to pose for the pornographic photos were flown to California to testify in Clemans’ trial.

A jury found Clemans guilty in September of buying children, conspiracy and traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. He previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy, producing and receiving child pornography.

Clemans' lawyer, Daniel Olmos, said his client will appeal his life sentence. Clemans stood seemingly emotionless during the hearing, but Mendez let him hug his parents and other family members before he was led away.

“Thank you for your support and love,” he told his mother. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

Both Tendang and Atad were arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 15-year prison terms in the Philippines, according to court documents.