Elgin man sentenced to 15 years for sexually assaulting child in Philippines

An Elgin man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child he traveled to meet in the Philippines.

Donald Scott Coleman, 64, repeatedly sexually assaulted the child when he traveled to the Southeast Asian nation in the fall of 2012 after meeting the child’s mother online, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Coleman pleaded guilty to a charge of traveling in foreign commerce and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor last year, prosecutors said.

Federal Judge Harry D. Leinenweber sentenced Coleman on Thursday.

An investigation found Coleman had visited the mother and cared for the child several times between 2009 and 2012. He repeated assaulted the child during a multiple-month trip in 2012, prosecutors said.

The FBI investigation was assisted by Elgin police and the Philippine National Police.