Placer County man who had sexual relationship with teenager he met online pleads guilty

A Placer County man pleaded guilty Thursday after being arrested last year on charges of having sex with a minor. The Nevada girl was 14 when the two first met on a social media app.

Ryan Kristopher Davidek of Lincoln pleaded guilty to trafficking a minor with intent to commit a criminal sexual act based on the sexual relationship he had with the teenager for over four years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced in a news release.

Davidek, 40, was arrested last year on a criminal complaint in federal court and taken to the Sacramento County Jail, where he remains in custody awaiting sentencing. A federal grand jury issued an additional indictment against Davidek last June on a child sexual exploitation charge.

The convicted Placer County man met the middle school student in 2016 through a social media app called Camfrog, which allows users to chat online through video chat rooms, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court on Feb. 16, 2023, the day Davidek was arrested.

According to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in support of the federal lawsuit, Davidek was 32 years old when he first sexually abused the underage girl in a private online chat on the Camfrog app.

The FBI agent wrote in the affidavit that Davidek first had sex with the girl in May 2016 after driving to Reno, Nevada, picking up the teen near her home and taking her to a Circus Circus hotel in the city. Later that year, FBI agents said, the girl revealed to Davidek that she was 14, not 16 as she had told him.

According to the affidavit, Davidek continued the sexual relationship with the minor, with more than 25 to 30 sexual encounters occurring over the next four years.

The FBI agent said that after their first sexual encounter, Davidek took her to the Sands Regency Hotel, where her parents rarely went to play. He then drove to Reno, picked the girl up and took her to his house in Lincoln to spend the weekend with him. They also had numerous other sexually explicit online video chats on the social media app, the affidavit states.

On the day of his arrest, the FBI obtained a search warrant for Davidek’s home and found that his bedroom and bathroom matched the photos investigators had seen in the girl’s photo.

In Davidek’s bedroom, investigators also found a computer with the Camfrog app open and logged into the account used to communicate with the girl, as well as room keys for the Sands Regency Hotel in Reno, the affidavit said.

Davidek is scheduled to appear in federal court for sentencing on Oct. 3. Prosecutors said Davidek faces a prison sentence of 10 years to life, a $250,000 fine, restitution to be determined by the court and lifetime probation.