3 foreign sex predators barred at NAIA

Three foreign sex offenders were apprehended by the Bureau of Immigration at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

According to BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the three passengers were stopped at NAIA Terminal 1 last week as they attempted to enter the country as tourists.

Tansingco identified the three Americans as Jeffrey William Jewitt, 42 years old; Charles David James Weatherall, 32 years old; and Momodu Wurie Jalloh, 28 years old.

Jewitt was denied entry on 5 April upon his arrival in the country via a Korean Airlines flight from Incheon, South Korea. Based on data gathered by the BI Border Control and Intelligence Unit (BI-BCIU), Jewitt was found guilty in 2012 of having sex offenses by an Illinois court.

Along with one allegation of sexually abusing a 12-year-old child, Jewitt was also found guilty on two counts of abduction and luring a 16-year-old girl.

While Weatherall was refused entry on 7 April after he arrived in the country via an Air China flight from Beijing.

According to BI-BCIU, Weatherall was convicted of child pornography for possessing indecent images of children in the United Kingdom.

On 8 April, Momodu was also denied entry on the country upon his arrival at NAIA Terminal 1 via a Saudi Airlines flight from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The BI-Interpol unit said that Momodu was found guilty in Virginia of aggravated sexual assault with a disability, in which the victim was a 21-year-old woman.

Tansingco stated that, as a consequence of their exclusion, the three aliens have been placed on the immigration blacklist.  

Under the Immigration Act, aliens found guilty of crimes that are morally repugnant are immediately prohibited from entering the country.

“As gatekeepers of the country, immigration officers are chiefly responsible for seeing to it that unwanted aliens are immediately turned away upon arriving in any of our international ports of entry,” the BI chief stress.