Sacramento County Man Accused Of Posing Online As Young Girl To Groom More Than 80 Young Victims In Child Porn Scheme

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento County man is accused of posing as a prepubescent girl online and contacting more than 80 young victims across the U.S. in an effort to groom them and have them create child pornographic images, authorities said Tuesday.

On December 1, 2021, authorities served a search warrant at the home of 24-year-old Demetrius Davis and discovered several screen recordings of children engaged in sexual acts. The Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force had received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an individual online uploading child sexual abuse images, Sgt. Rod Grassmann of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said in a video press release.

"You feel an accomplishment when you take somebody into custody,"Grassmann told CBS13 on Tuesday. "It is just alarmingly mind-numbing the heinousness of that crime."

According to ICAC, Davis is suspected of creating multiple online accounts depicting himself as a prepubescent girl named "Lizzy." He is accused of using those online accounts to contact dozens of children all over the country in an effort to groom them and receive illicit content from them, said Sgt. Grassmann. He would allegedly send them child pornography and have the children record themselves engaging in sexual acts with their siblings or other children of similar ages.

"It is astounding the damage that this person has done to these victims," Grassmann said.

To date, more than 80 child victims across several U.S. states have been positively identified in this investigation. Grassmann said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working with investigators to positively identify at least 15 more children believed to reside internationally. Though, investigators believe Davis communicated with well over 100 children between late 2020 to December 2021.

Grassmann said the victims vary in age but typically fall in the 6-13 age range.

Investigators encourage parents to check their young children's devices if there are any suspicions they could have been a victim of such a crime.

"I would beg parents, please monitor what your children are doing. Don't just let them just go pick up a phone or a tablet or get on a computer," Grassmann said.

The sheriff's office said the funding for ICAC has been cut from the governor's budget proposal. They're hoping this case will highlight the importance of the task force and get the money restored.

Davis will be in court on Thursday