A Sacramento County man has agreed to a 300-year-to-life prison sentence after admitting he used a fake online persona to groom and extort more than 80 children across the globe into producing sexually explicit material. Demetrius Davis pleaded no contest to 12 counts of committing a lewd act upon a child, with his victims ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old.
According to FOX40, Davis used content he had obtained from one victim to build a fake online persona, which he then used to pressure other children into creating sexually explicit material of themselves. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office says Davis's victims spanned the globe, and that he admitted to victimizing multiple children under the age of 14. His sentence, part of a negotiated plea deal, is scheduled to be formally handed down in October.
Court records identify the case as #22FE006743, with the plea negotiated by Principal Criminal Attorney Danny Jensen of the DA's Cybercrimes Unit, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office. Davis entered his plea on August 28, and Judge Shauna Franklin is set to formally impose the sentence on October 16 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 62 of Sacramento Superior Court.
How the Investigation Began
The case traces back to a cyber tip forwarded from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the DA's office says. That tip uncovered that Davis had used the online persona “Lizzy” between late 2020 and December 2021 to entice and manipulate young victims into producing abuse material.
The Sacramento ICAC Task Force operates under the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force, led by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, and covers 30 counties across northern and central California while partnering with more than 127 affiliate agencies as of this year, per the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. That regional reach reflects how heavily investigators lean on automated CyberTipline reports from NCMEC to unravel online grooming networks that often cross state and national lines.
How 12 Counts Add Up to 300 Years
Under California Penal Code Section 288(a), a conviction for a lewd act upon a child under 14 carries a base sentence of 3, 6, or 8 years per count, and acts against separate victims or on separate occasions are legally eligible for consecutive sentencing, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. Because California law treats each distinct lewd act as its own felony, stacking 12 counts against a defendant like Davis is what allows prosecutors to reach triple-digit sentencing totals.
The scale of Davis's case mirrors a broader national surge in digital child exploitation. NCMEC received more than 50,000 reports of online sextortion targeting children in 2025 — an average of 137 reports a day — up sharply from 36,000 reports in 2024, the organization reported. When reporting relationships are identified, NCMEC found that 94 percent of public sextortion and enticement reports in 2025 came directly from child victims or their parents, underscoring how often predators shift conversations to private messaging apps to dodge automated detection.
A Pattern of Multi-Century Sentences in Sacramento
Davis's case fits a pattern of severe, multi-count prosecutions moving through Sacramento Superior Court in recent years. Last October, the court sentenced Robert Grell to 240 years for prolific child sexual assault involving multiple young victims. In February, Javier Arizmendi was sentenced to 54 years to life after being convicted of grooming a 10-year-old through Xbox Live and attempting to kidnap the child for molestation.
In July, a Sacramento County jury convicted Arthuron Warren on 27 felony counts of child sexual assault involving two young victims, exposing him to as much as 675 years in state prison. Statewide, enforcement has also ramped up: in May, California ICAC task forces ran “Operation Firewall,” a two-week sweep across Southern California that led to 341 arrests and the rescue of 40 child victims, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Davis's formal sentencing hearing next month will make his 300-year-to-life term official, closing out a case that began with a single automated tip and expanded into an investigation spanning victims around the world.
