Man Who Founded Nonprofit To Fight Violence Against Children Jailed For Possessing Child Porn

A New York man known for his campaigns against child sexual violence has been sentenced to prison for abusing a teen and possessing child porn.

On Tuesday, Joel Davis, the founder of the nonprofit Youth to End Sexual Violence, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for enticing and engaging in illegal sexual activity with a child. Davis was also sentenced to five years in prison for possession of child pornography and five years for distributing and receiving child pornography. The sentences are to be served concurrently, said the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York.

He will have to spend another five years in supervision after his prison release.

The 25-year-old was arrested in Manhattan in June 2018. "Davis…admitted to engaging in the very abhorrent behavior he had publicly pledged to fight," U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement.

"Davis, who also claims to be a Nobel Prize nominee for his work with his organization, engaged in sex acts with a minor, recording them, and distributing that recording to others – including an undercover FBI agent," she said.

In January 2020, he told investigators that he used an online dating app to entice a 15-year-old boy to have sex with him, reported the New York Post. Investigators seized over 3,700 images and 330 videos of child pornography from him. According to a criminal complaint, Davis had pornographic images of children younger than 12 years.

Strauss said Davis was aware of the impact of his actions on his victims. "Sex with minors is obviously never permissible, acceptable, or justifiable, and by virtue of his non-profit work," she said.

"Davis also allegedly solicited an undercover officer – whom he thought to be a willing participant – to send sexually explicit videos of his nine-year-old daughter, and even to set up a sexual encounter between himself and a two-year-old," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement back in 2018.

Earlier this month, a Missouri man was sentenced to 628 years in prison for sexually abusing three minor girls. He was convicted of statutory rape and sodomy, enticing minor girls and unlawful use of a weapon.