Monroe County Resident Sentenced to Nine Years in Child Exploitation Case

United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces that United States District Judge William H. Steele sentenced Eric Davis, 39, of Monroeville, Alabama, to 108 months imprisonment for coercion and enticement of a minor.  As part of the sentence, the judge ordered that Davis pay a $100 special assessment and receive a life term of supervised release upon release from custody.  The judge also ordered Davis to undergo mental health and sex offender treatment as directed by the United States Probation Office.

On August 31, 2017, a federal grand jury for the Southern District of Alabama charged Davis with one count of coercion and enticement of a minor and one count of transfer of obscene material to a minor.  On November 7, 2017, Davis pleaded guilty before Judge Steele to the coercion charge.

As part of his plea deal, Davis signed a factual resume that summarized his offense conduct.  That document states that from around June 2016 to around July 2016, Davis used a facility of interstate commerce -- a cell phone -- to knowingly persuade, induce, entice, and coerce an individual who had not attained the age of eighteen years to engage in sexual activity.  The victim was fifteen years old at the time of the offense, which occurred in Monroe County, Alabama.  Davis knew that the victim was less than eighteen years of age when he committed the offense.  On July 11, 2016, he was interviewed at the Excel Police Department.  There, Davis admitted to exchanging explicit pictures with the victim via cell phone.  When Davis was shown a penis picture found in the victim’s phone, he wrote and signed a statement saying, “This is the picture of my penis I sent to [the victim] from my old phone.”  Davis said that he and the victim frequently texted about kissing and sex.  In text messages, Davis and the victim texted explicit photos to one another and discussed sexual activity.  Davis and the victim texted to coordinate a rendezvous, which they had on July 5, 2016.  That evening, Davis had sex with the victim.    

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Excel Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Sinan Kalayoglu prosecuted the case.