Your Daily Jury Duty
"In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"R. Lavern Davison, 48, charged with convincing a 13-yr-old girl in Centerville, Utah, to hop on a bus and come see him. (She assumed he was a World of Warcraft pal; he wanted you-know-what.) The crime's ugly, but we must be fair and observe Davison on the perp walk before we judge him.
The 48-year-old, also known as ‘Bear’, likes to play World of Warcraft. In June 2008 he started chatting with a 13-year-old girl during game play. The chatting then moved to instant messaging, where it became more and more sexual. Eventually, Davison sent the girl a cell phone and communicated with her that way.
When the girl’s mother called police to report her daughter didn’t make it to school one day officials learned she was planning on going to California to live with her boyfriend. It was then that the FBI and Utah’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force got involved. Agents performed a scan on her computer and cell phone and found that Davison was engaging in sexually explicit conversations and intended to have the girl travel to California for sexually related purposes.
On a hunch, detectives headed for the Greyhound bus station. They arrived just in time…the girl was to board the bus in less than an hour. It then became obvious the girl had been fooled. When shown a real picture of her ‘boyfriend’ the kid freaked out.
Officers wanted to reel in Davison…they picked up where the girl left off and continued to chat with him. Centerville Police said the chats became more sexual in nature. ‘The things he wanted to do to her were graphic and violent.’ FBI agents arrested Davison.
Davison was transported by the US Marshal’s Office to his Utah court appearances where he was ordered detained until trial. Robert Lavern Davison Jr. faces one count of coercion and enticement, which carries a potential maximum penalty of life in federal prison with a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence.
Oh, and if you're wondering what that nasty, festering sore on his stomach is? It might be a large and inoperable hernia on the verge of bursting. Or, it *could be* ... a desk sore! Maybe he got it from sitting for hours and hours, days and days, his belly rubbing up against the edge of the desk while playing WoW and chatting up the girls?
UPDATE
California man sentenced to 10 years for luring a Utah girl online
By Anne Forester
November 23rd, 2009 @ 3:27pm
SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal judge sentenced a California man to 10 years in prison for luring a Utah girl into a sexual relationship online.
Robert Lavern Davison Jr. 41, caught the attention of local authorities last November when the girl disappeared from school.
"It's really important in this case that we got the 10-year sentence," said Assistant United States Attorney Trina Higgins.
Prosecutors left federal court pleased that an online predator would be locked up for a long time.
Davison, from Northern California, was sentenced to 10 years for luring a 13-year-old Utah girl into a sexual relationship. Davison met the girl online while playing the game "World of Warcraft." The two started instant messaging.
Following Robert Lavern Davison's arrest, investigators want to warn parents about these games becoming forums for child predators.
"This is a real girl who had been talking to him online, he had coerced her to go out and meet him," said Higgins.
Authorities said Davison convinced the girl to travel to California; he even bought her a one-way bus ticket.
Last November the 13-year-old disappeared from school.
The Centerville Police Department, the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI found her at a Salt Lake City bus stop.
"She was just a few hours away from getting on a bus and going to California, and who knows what would have happened when she got off the bus in California," said Lt. Paul Child of the Centerville Police Department.
Davidson was arrested in California and brought to Utah to face the charges.
"We work together as a team, local state and federal agencies worked together very well to bring this to an arrest and I think saving this girl's life," said Child.
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