An upstate New York man has pleaded guilty to driving eight hours to Virginia to have sex with a 14-year-old girl as her “sugar daddy,” federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Derrick Loi, of Lakeville, just south of Rochester, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of coercion and enticement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Virginia said in a news release.
According to court records, Loi, 27, began chatting with the young victim in February 2023 on the messaging platform Discord. Officials said he offered money to buy sexually explicit images and videos from her and to meet in person for sex.
Ultimately, they agreed he would become the victim’s “sugar daddy” and that Loi 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.
On Feb. 22, the two began making plans for an in-person meeting, which would take place at a hotel in Lynchburg, Va. Those plans included “a discussion on specific sex acts and how he would film them,” officials said.
During the eight-hour drive to Virginia, Loi periodically chatted with the victim and also sent her a photo of items he was bringing for their sexual encounter.
When he arrived at the pre-arranged location, a Lynchburg Police officer began questioning him. Authorities said he gave the officer a false name and lied about why he had driven to Lynchburg.
When police searched his vehicle, they found sex toys, a bottle of pink vodka and a box of the morning-after pill Plan B.
Loi’s Feb. 24, 2023 arrest followed a police investigation, which began after the girl’s family contacted authorities to report that illicit communications were found between an adult male and the teen.
He was taken into custody less than a mile from the girl’s home, local television station WSLS reported at the time.
Loi now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison, as well as a potential fine of up to $250,000, officials said.
