Delaware County Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Collecting 22,000+ Images Involving the Sexual Abuse of Children

 The defendant committed these crimes while he was a student at West Chester University and serving a sentence for a previous sexual offense against children

PHILADELPHIA – Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Ryan Davis, 24, formerly of Glen Mills, PA, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $15,000 restitution after a nearly 10-hour hearing by United States District Judge Gerald Pappert for his possession of more than 22,000 images and videos of child pornography that Davis concealed on his electronic devices and in his online accounts.

In July 2019, the defendant pleaded guilty to transporting and possessing a collection of more than 22,000 extremely graphic and sadistic images and videos of children being raped, sexually assaulted, and depicted in sexually explicit positions. Most of the children depicted in his collection were prepubescent, and included infants and toddlers being sexually abused. An investigation into the defendant’s online Dropbox account revealed that the IP addresses used to access his child pornography were linked to various residences associated with the defendant, including his student account at West Chester University.

At the time he committed these child sex crimes, Davis was under court supervision and still serving his juvenile sentence for sexually assaulting two prepubescent boys who were just 6 and 9-years old at the time that Davis victimized them.  Davis was also in sex offender treatment during the same time he committed these federal child sex crimes.

“Child pornography offenses victimize real children – they are first abused by those who produce these images, and re-victimized every time a child sex offender engages in these online crimes,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Williams. “Davis is very clearly a danger to children in the community as a previously adjudicated child sex offender, and he will now spend years behind bars to ensure he can no longer hurt any more children. Investigating and prosecuting these cases are a priority for our Office, as is ensuring that the offenders are held fully accountable.”

“Ryan Davis admitted to amassing many thousands of images of babies, toddlers, and children suffering horrific sexual abuse, and doing so while in treatment for sexually abusing two children himself,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Those photos and videos represent unimaginable pain forced upon utterly vulnerable victims, some too young to walk or talk. Know that the FBI will never stop looking for, and locking up, those involved in the sexual exploitation of children.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rotella.