2 American sex offenders intercepted

Two American sex offenders were barred from entering the country at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the latest report of the Bureau of Immigration.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the first passenger as 39-year-old Zachary Tyler Thompson, who was intercepted at NAIA Terminal 1 after arriving aboard a Philippine Airlines flight from Los Angeles in the beginning of the new year.

Thompson was convicted both in 2013 and 2015 for possessing obscene materials depicting a minor in sexual conduct and for annoying or molesting a child under 18 years of age.

Before 2023 ended, the BI-NAIA also reported the interception of 46-year-old American Paul Neal Coltharp, who was barred at NAIA Terminal 1 on 27 December upon his arrival at NAIA Terminal 1 on board via an Eva Air flight from Taipei.

According to the US government, a California court convicted Coltharp of child molestation in 1998, wherein the victim was a 14-year-old girl.

Both aliens were immediately excluded and flown back to their port of origin. Their names have likewise been included in the BI blacklist of undesirable aliens.

The BI chief explained that, as registered sex offenders, both Thompson and Coltharp are excludable aliens under the Immigration Act, which forbids the entry of those convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.