A former prison guard at Coffeewood Correctional Center is in federal custody after prosecutors say he purchased and received explicit videos on Snapchat from a 15-year-old in Texas.
Davey Jonathan Sisk, 29, of Culpeper, was arrested Feb. 15 and charged in federal court with receipt of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville.
A Homeland Security Investigations probe showed, from 2021-22, the now 15-year-old minor and another minor had sex and then sold videos and images of the encounters on the internet, including Snapchat, according to the release.
The complaint alleges Sisk, using the Snapchat username “JAKESMOOT2021,” paid approximately $465 to the minor in exchange for multiple sexually explicit images and videos.
The defendant also reportedly sent photos of himself standing in front of a mirror and in his vehicle via Snapchat, which police identified as him: “That’s me,” Sisk wrote to the minor. Investigators traced the IP address of the correspondence to Sisk’s residence.
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On June 24, 2022, a Snapchat user asked him, “What do you do?,” and Sisk replied, “Prison officer (what about you).” His response was consistent with evidence about his background previously employed at Coffeewood Correctional Center in Mitchells, according to the federal criminal complaint in the case.
Public defender Abigail M. Thibeault, in the Charlottesville office, was appointed to represent Sisk.
The defendant was remanded to custody based on a prosecution motion that he be held pending trial. The judge noted a presumption of pretrial detention, regarding safety risk in certain felony cases involving minor victims, according to court documents. The court found no condition could reasonably assure the safety of the community if the defendant was released.
According to court documents, “The information in the complaint and the agent’s testimony allege that the defendant contacted a minor on Snap Chat and paid that minor to send him images of the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
“Additionally, the agent testified that the defendant’s former romantic partner sent the defendant sexually explicit images of her minor daughter. Given the serious nature of defendant’s alleged conduct, no conditions exist that would reasonably protect the community from him.
“Additionally, the defendant’s release plan does not mitigate the danger he presents as the plan would have him reside in a house with three minor children.”