Jake Ross was sentenced to 55 years in prison

A US man has been sentenced to 55 years for live-streaming sex abuse of Filipino children.

Jake Ross, 47, had contacted a Filipino woman in the Philippines regularly via WhatsApp video chats.

Ross then paid her to sexually abuse her children whilst he watched via live-stream from his home 8,800 miles away in McDowell County, North Carolina.

The American was arrested in July 2022 and was convicted of child pornography charges in March 2021.

28 pornographic screenshots from his conversation with the Filipino mother were found on his phone.

Ross was handed a 55 year jail sentence as well as a lifetime of court supervision for his conviction on a half-dozen child pornography charges.

The case marks the longest sentence in a child pornography case handed down by the federal courts in the Asheville division of North Carolina’s Western District.

In a statement following Reidinger’s decision, US lawyer Dena King of Charlotte said Ross’ punishment “reflects the depravity of his actions”.

“These types of crimes that prey on our children sicken me,” King said.