SINGAPORE - A sales engineer pretended to be a woman called "Vacinta Koh" on Facebook and befriended young girls online before asking them if they wanted to work as escorts.

If the girls were reluctant, "Vacinta" would coax them into taking the job, adding there was a "stringent vetting process" as only clients who were "young, non-ugly and rich men", and who had undergone regular health checks were allowed.

If the girls revealed that they were underage, they were told "age was not an issue".

The offender, Angelo Anwyll Goh Hao-Yi, as "Vacinta", would then arrange for the girls to meet him for sex.

Goh's offences involved eight girls who were then between 13 and 17 years old.

He had unprotected sexual intercourse with most of the teenagers. He even filmed some of his encounters with them.

The 34-year-old Singaporean was sentenced on Thursday (Nov 7) to four years and 10 months' jail.

He had pleaded guilty to nine counts of having sex with minors.

He also admitted to one count each of making obscene films and having commercial sex with the 17-year-old girl .

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Fifteen other charges, mainly for similar offences, were considered during sentencing.

He committed his offences between September 2016 and April last year.

The court heard that some time before May 2016, Goh created a Facebook account under the name "Vacinta Koh", who was purportedly below 20 years old - a profile similar to his intended targets.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei said: "Before creating this fake Facebook account, the accused previously attempted to engage girls for sex using several male profiles under different false names but did not receive any response. He therefore decided to use a female profile."

Goh then found young girls on Facebook and sent friend requests to the ones he liked using this fake account.

"When a girl accepted his friend request, he would message the girl using Facebook Messenger and ask her if she was interested in earning quick money of between $100 and $ 200 per hour."

When the girl asked what the job entailed, Goh , as "Vacinta", would inform her that she would need to work as a "part-time girlfriend" or "escort".

"Vacinta" also told the girl that "she" too was working as one and could recommend "nice clients" to the victim.

The DPP told District Judge Edgar Foo: "If the girl agreed, the accused would purport to arrange for them to meet a client who was, in truth, the accused.

"The accused as Vacinta also asked the victims to introduce their friends if they were interested in engaging in sex for money."

"Vacinta also cautioned the victims not to let anyone else know about the 'job'."

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The court heard that if a girl agreed to wear her school uniform, she would be paid an additional $10.

A girl who agreed to be filmed would be given $20 extra.

When Goh met the girls in person for sex, he would take them to places where they would not be detected.

These included his car and his home in Poh Huat Terrace near Yio Chu Kang Road when no one else was around

Court documents did not reveal how the offences came to light, but Goh was arrested on April 2 last year.

He is now out on bail of $30,000 and will surrender himself at the State Courts on Nov 14 to begin serving his sentence.

Offenders convicted of having commercial sex with a girl below 18 years old can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.