Performing Sexual Acts While Video Chatting With a Minor

My question involves criminal law for the state of: USA (no state in particular)

This occurred around 5 years ago.
Someone I know was 19 at the time. He interacted sexually with someone online who claimed to be 14 and from the US. He asked if she wanted to see him masturbate and she said yes. He did, under the impression that he was not coercing anyone(nor going against anyone's autonomy) and that what he was doing was not self-evidently harmful. Some time later, he read up on such things and came to know of the concept of age of consent and the concept of minors. What he did was not illegal in his country of residence(he asked local lawyers since he does not reside in the US nor is he a US citizen), but he was just wondering if anything could come of this legally. From what I read, on the federal level, any non-capital offense has a statute of limitations of 5 years. Is there any way the statute of limitations could go longer due to some exception? Could US jurisdiction be claimed in the first place?
After this person found out about the law and the social derision to such actions, he felt bad and never did anything again. It's just that he didn't know about such laws and what he did wasn't evidently wrong to him at the time. Had he just that piece of knowledge, he most definitely wouldn't have done anything.

Laws and statutes of limitation vary by state, and some states have exceptionally long statutes of limitation for sex acts involving minors.

How could he have known? Also, which state's laws apply?

When somebody says to you, "I am a child", that's how you figure out that she's a child.

The laws apply of whatever state is involved; additionally federal law applies. We're not psychics, so unless you tell us what state the girl was in we have no way of telling you what state she's in.

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Quoting Justicoo123

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From what I read, on the federal level, any non-capital offense has a statute of limitations of 5 years. Is there any way the statute of limitations could go longer due to some exception?

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The general rule is that most federal felony crimes are subject to a 5 year statute of limitations (SOL), but there are several exceptions to that. For example, there is a six year SOL for felony federal tax offenses. Also, some federal crimes involving minors have longer SOLs too.

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Quoting Justicoo123

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Could US jurisdiction be claimed in the first place?

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Potentially yes, since the minor evidently was located in the U.S. at the time.

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Quoting Justicoo123

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How could he have known? Also, which state's laws apply?

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When a person gives his/her age and that turns out to be a minor, you better take that at face value and not assume the person is an adult lying about his/her age. The laws of the state where the minor is located as well as the state where the other person is located might both potentially apply, as would federal law.

While it’s likely that no prosecution from the U.S. will occur over this one incident, he needs to be careful in the future.

Nowhere did anyone state they were a "child", so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.
With respect to which state, the person is not even sure if the other party is from the US to begin with. (It was probably a false memory since this person is known to have schizophrenic delusions)

According to your first post, she claimed to be 14. How much more notice that she is still, legally, a child, does this mythical person need?

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Quoting Justicoo123

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Nowhere did anyone state they were a "child", so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.
With respect to which state, the person is not even sure if the other party is from the US to begin with. (It was probably a false memory since this person is known to have schizophrenic delusions)

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"He interacted sexually with someone online who claimed to be 14 and from the US." THIS is where she said she's a child. 14 is underage. Minor. Illegal in the US. Got it now? Or do you also have issues remembering things like your "friend?"

Again, the person in question did not have any knowledge of US law. Ages of consent and the idea of what constitutes a person able to consenting to sexual acts vary across different countries. (Example: Germany's age of consent is 14). The person is not trying to argue against US law. Rather, he is arguing about the ludicrousness of having the epistemic burden of knowing that the age of consent to such acts is 18.

But the point is, he did not know that 14 constitutes someone who could not consent. Yes, I agree that there needs to be some quasi-arbitrary line drawn with respect to consenting to such acts, but the fact that it's arbitrary makes it non-self evident. Thus, someone who does not have that piece of information(that a 14 year old cannot legally consent) is normal, especially if that person is not from the US. Anyways, the person in question is not even sure about whether or not she was from the US, since when he started looking up laws, the US-dominant internet search results returned US-based legal answers and the person started having false memories of her claiming to be from the US. Also, he remembers that she claimed to be NOT a CHILD (her own words) since when they were about to talk, she said that she wasn't ready to talk as there was a child in the room.

What is ludicrous is having sexual conversations on the internet with people whose identity, location, and age, you cannot confirm.

He gets no pass for "not knowing" from me. If he didn't know, he should have kept his mouth shut and his pants zipped.

Tell him so from me.