A former teacher who has been facing child pornography charges on the local level has now been busted by the feds for allegedly sexually exploiting children.
Cambridge man Joshua DeWitte, 50, is accused by the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office of paying more than $23,000 to produce videos documenting the sexual exploitation of minor boys in the Philippines.
DeWitte, a former teacher at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, was arrested by the feds on Thursday and charged with one count of sexual exploitation of minors (and attempt and conspiracy). The feds also charged Christopher Tisoy, 27, a Filipino national residing in Baltimore.
According to the charging documents, DeWitte in December was identified as the alleged owner of a Snapchat account that uploaded a file of suspected child sexual abuse material — depicting the abuse of a boy who appears to be between 8 and 10 years old.
DeWitte is accused of engaging in Snapchat conversations that were sexual in nature with users who presented themselves as minors.
In those conversations, DeWitte allegedly asked for nude pictures from the minors; sent pictures of his penis to the minors; and discussed previous and potential meetups for sexual relations with minors.
DeWitte also allegedly paid another Snapchat user to obtain and produce child pornography, and to recruit minor boys for himself.
Based on that information, state law enforcement obtained a search warrant for DeWitte’s Cambridge residence in January.
DeWitte was then arrested and charged in Cambridge District Court with six counts of disseminating obscene material to a child, one count of distribution of material depicting a child in a sexual act and one count of possession of child pornography. He was later released on conditions.
Then, police looked through DeWitte’s phone and allegedly found a Telegram conversation between DeWitte and another user. DeWitte allegedly shared three video files and said, “I was in the Philippines. Most of my vids are from there and that’s where I was with a 10 yo and 12. 16 yo in Japan and Korea”; and “I have a contact there…He only records vids of the boys or arranges for my visit.”
DeWitte and Tisoy allegedly discussed four minor boys by name, and arranged for the production of videos depicting the sexual exploitation of at least two minor boys in the Philippines.
DeWitte and Tisoy allegedly negotiated the terms of creating sexually explicit videos involving minors, including which minors should be involved; which sex acts the minors should perform; who should film, including whether a third party or one of the minors themselves should film; what angles should be filmed; and how much DeWitte should pay Tisoy for each video.
The negotiation involved the sexual preferences of both DeWitte and Tisoy, with both agreeing on what they would each find sexually gratifying. Tisoy then allegedly relayed instructions to the minor victims to create a video.
DeWitte is accused of paying Tisoy for each video Tisoy produced and sent.
DeWitte allegedly sent 87 PayPal payments to Tisoy, in amounts ranging from $27 to $958, to film the sexual exploitation of minors in the Philippines – totaling about $23,752.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said members of the public who have questions, concerns or information regarding this case should call 617-748-3274 or email USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov.