Lower Salem man sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexual exploitation of minors | News, Sports, Jobs

James A. Sabolick

COLUMBUS – A Lower Salem man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 25 years in prison for sexually exploiting minors in the United States and the Philippines.

James A. Sabolick, 58, brought a minor from West Virginia to his Washington County hunting cabin to engage in illicit sexual acts and sent living expenses to Filipino women in exchange for child sexual abuse material, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sabolick pleaded guilty in January to two counts of sexual abuse of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography, the press release said.

The press release states that court documents show that on July 24, 2021, Marietta police stopped a vehicle driven by Sabolick and he told officers he was alone while attempting to hide a minor female in the vehicle, whom officers found in the back seat.

Further investigation by the Southeastern Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office determined that Sabolick had driven the underage female from West Virginia to a cabin near his residence in Washington County to perform various sexual acts with the minor, the release said.

“Some of the sexual acts involved abuse such as needle pricks, lighter burns, bondage, strangulation and urination,” says the press release.

According to the press release, pantyhose, lubricant and a box of T-pins were seized in Sabolick’s vehicle during the investigation. Sabolick also photographed the underage girl during the sexual abuse.

The press release states that court documents show that Sabolick met the minor when she was approximately 13 or 14 years old and that he had several messages and nude photos of the minor on his phone.

According to the press release, forensic examination of Sabolick’s electronic devices and social media accounts revealed that he communicated with Filipino women he knew from trips to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014.

The press release states that the women asked Sabolick for money for their basic living expenses, and in return he asked them for sexually explicit images of their minor children and offered to send them money for the child sexual abuse material.

According to the press release, one such case occurred in December 2020, when Sabolick sent money to a Filipino woman for pictures of her daughter’s genitals.

The press release states that financial records show numerous transactions to the Philippines – including to the Filipino women who were the subject of the investigation – totaling more than $1,000, and that were made on the same days that Sabolick solicited child pornography from the women.

“We are committed to working together at all levels of law enforcement to hold people accountable for their crimes, regardless of where they exploit their victims,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth L. Parker said this in the press release. “Our priority is to put offenders like Sabolick behind bars for longer periods of time so that they can no longer exploit vulnerable people. Today’s sentence does just that.”

According to the press release, the case was investigated by the Southeastern Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force and the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force.