A New York man, in a scene reminiscent of the “Dateline NBC” series “To Catch a Predator,” drove eight hours thinking he was going to have sex with a 14-year-old Lynchburg girl.
Except that Derrick Loi, 27, of Lakeville, N.Y., hadn’t been chatting with an online investigator posing as a teen.
The girl was 14 years old. Her parents had discovered the online chats involving their daughter and Loi, which got to be pretty graphic, and called police, who arrested Loi less than a mile from her home.
Loi, who had been in custody since February 2023, was sentenced today to 25 years in federal prison.
According to court documents, Loi met the girl online, and told her that he was interested in buying sexually explicit images and videos of her, and that he also wanted to meet her in person to have sex.
Ultimately, Loi agreed to pay the victim $300 to have sex with him and to provide him with sexually explicit images.
Loi and the victim agreed that Loi would become the victim’s “sugar daddy,” according to the court documents, and that he would get unlimited access to sexually explicit content of the victim for a weekly fee of $50, which would increase to $100 after the first month.
Loi and the victim later began discussing plans for Loi to travel to meet the victim, including a discussion on specific sex acts and how he would film them.
After reserving a hotel room in Lynchburg, Loi chatted periodically with the young girl throughout his 8-hour drive from the Rochester area and also took time to send her a picture of items that he had brought with him for their sexual encounter.
Just as Loi arrived at the pre-arranged location, an officer from the Lynchburg Police Department drove up and began questioning Loi.
Initially, Loi provided a false name and lied to law enforcement about why he was in Lynchburg.
A subsequent search of Loi’s vehicle revealed sex toys, a box containing morning-after contraception pills, and a bottle of pink vodka, which Loi had previously told the victim he was bringing for her.