Ohio man brought a West Virginia minor to his hunting cabin to sexually abuse her and sent money to Filipino women for explicit pictures of their children

A Lower Salem, Ohio man has been sentenced to 300 months in prison in federal court for exploiting underage victims in Ohio and the Philippines.

James A. Sabolick, 58, brought a minor from West Virginia to his Washington County hunting cabin to engage in illegal sex acts. Sabolick also sent money for the living expenses of Filipino women in exchange for child sexual abuse materials.

“We are committed to working together at all levels of law enforcement to hold people accountable for their crimes, no matter where they prey on their victims,” ​​said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “Our priority is to put offenders like Sabolick behind bars for longer periods of time so they can no longer prey on vulnerable people. Today’s sentence does just that.”

Sabolick pleaded guilty in January 2024 to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, Marietta police officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Sabolick on July 24, 2021. Sabolick told officers he was alone while attempting to hide an underage female who officers discovered in the back seat.

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

Some of the sexual acts included abuse such as needle sticks, lighter burns, bondage, strangulation, and urination. Items recovered from Sabolick’s hunting cabin and vehicle included pantyhose, lubricant, and a box of T-pins. Sabolick photographed the underage victim during the sexual abuse.

Court documents show that Sabolick met the minor victim when she was approximately 13 or 14 years old. Sabolick had several messages and nude photos of the minor victim on his phone.

Additional forensic examination of Sabolick’s electronic devices and social media accounts revealed that he had communicated with Filipino women he knew from previous trips to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014. In recovered Facebook chats, the women asked Sabolick for money for basic living expenses such as groceries, utility bills, college tuition, etc. In exchange, Sabolick demanded sexually explicit images of their minor children and offered to send them money for the child sexual abuse material.

For example, in December 2020, Sabolick sent money to a Filipino woman for images of her daughter’s genitals. Financial records from Paypal, Western Union, Xoom and Moneygram showed numerous transactions to the Philippines totaling over $1,000, including to the Filipino women identified in the investigation on the same days that Sabolick solicited child pornography from them.