Font ResizeConcerned about her teenage daughter's online chats with Robert Lavern Davison, a Centerville mother called the then-40-year-old Californian and told him to leave her alone.
But prosecutors say Davison continued sending sexually explicit messages to the 13-year-old and got her a bus ticket to come see him last year. The girl was reported missing in November 2008, and Centerville police officers located her at the Salt Lake City bus station waiting to board a bus to California.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball sentenced Davison to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $5,500 in restitution. Davison, of Kelseyville, Calif., had pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and enticement for illegal sexual activity.
Investigators say the girl met Davison while playing an online game, World of Warcraft, and the two talked later through instant messaging. Davison then persuaded someone else to buy the ticket for the teen, according to prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Trina Higgins said Davison knew almost from the beginning he was talking to a 13-year-old but still coerced her for sex. She told Kimball that Davison's case is particularly egregious because most Internet coercion investigations involve undercover agents posing as minors but a real girl was involved in this one.
The girl and her mother, who were in court for the sentencing, declined to comment.
