A Pennsylvania man who traveled to Cuba to meet a 15-year-old girl was convicted by a federal jury in Miami on a child pornography charge, authorities said.
Earl Richard Clouser, 55, was convicted by the jury on Feb. 11 of attempting to produce child sexual abuse material involving a minor victim overseas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said Tuesday.
Prosecutors said Clouser, of Burnham, Pennsylvania, had been speaking online with the teen in Cuba for months, repeatedly soliciting sexually explicit videos and directing her to produce sexual abuse material, often in exchange for electronic payments.
In September 2025, Clouser traveled from the U.S. to Havana to meet the teen to engage in sexual activity, authorities said.
Once there, the teen stayed overnight with Clouser in his rented apartment, prosecutors said.
When Clouser returned to the U.S. though Miami International Airport on Sept. 19, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Inspection officers found child sexual abuse material and communications between Clouser and the teen on his electronic devices, authorities said.
Clouser faces up to 30 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 15 years at sentencing.
“This defendant targeted a 15-year-old child, directed her to create sexually explicit material, and then traveled overseas to exploit her in person,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. “The fact that the victim lived in another country did not put her beyond the protection of U.S. law. If you use the internet or international travel to exploit a child, we will find you, prosecute you, and seek the full measure of federal punishment.”