A 21-year-old Riverside, California man was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison on October 22 after admitting he used a dating app to target a 15-year-old girl in New York's Capital Region, sent her explicit images, and pressured her into sending him a sexually explicit video. Devin Ravine, who also went by the name Derek Johnson, was sentenced on Thursday to the prison term followed by five years of supervised release.
U.S. District Judge Anne M. Nardacci imposed the sentence in Albany, according to the Department of Justice. Ravine had pleaded guilty back in May to receiving child pornography and transferring obscene material to a minor, admissions that laid out how the case against him came together, as reported by the FBI's Albany Field Office.
Federal prosecutors said Ravine's contact with the teen began on a dating application, and he later admitted to sending the child explicit images, including pictures of his erect penis, and pressuring her to produce sexually explicit videos of herself. According to the seed reporting from WRGB, the girl sent Ravine a sexually explicit video of herself before coming forward.
How the Case Came to Light
The victim came forward after FBI agents visited her school in the Capital Region as part of ongoing efforts to educate students about internet safety and sextortion, per the station's reporting. FBI Albany Special Agent in Charge Craig L. Tremaroli said the victim recognized what was happening to her and reported it to the FBI, and that the bureau responded with its resources and partnerships once she came forward.
“The investigation shows that the FBI will respond quickly when someone comes forward,” Tremaroli said, according to the same report. He added that the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force will use every resource available to locate predators and send them to prison, and said the FBI remains committed to continuing community conversations about online safety.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III said Ravine abused a 15-year-old girl in the Northern District of New York and was returned from California to face federal justice.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Cases
Ravine's sentencing lands amid a surge in reports of online enticement and sextortion targeting minors nationwide. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children said its CyberTipline received 1.4 million reports concerning online enticement in 2025, a 158 percent increase from the year before, according to NCMEC's CyberTipline data. The organization also logged more than 80,000 sextortion reports and over 53,000 reports it classified as urgent or involving a child in imminent danger.
Financially motivated sextortion reports alone topped 50,000 in 2025, averaging 137 per day, up from more than 36,000 reports in 2024, NCMEC detailed in a blog post. The organization noted that when the relationship to a victim was known, 94 percent of public sextortion reports came from the child victim or a parent, and that many offenders are shifting conversations quickly into private messaging and encrypted apps.
Ravine's case is one of several recent prosecutions moving through the Northern District of New York. On October 19, Zachary Long, 27, of Scotia, New York, pleaded guilty to attempted online coercion and enticement of a minor and possession of child pornography, per the Justice Department's announcement. Earlier this year, a 46-year-old Rome, New York man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for enticing and coercing a minor and receiving child pornography.
