Sex abuse charity boss arrested on child pornography charges

A leading youth campaigner against rape and sexual
violence has been arrested for possession of child pornography and
attempting to arrange sexual encounters with children.

Joel Davis, 22, co-founder of advocacy group
Youth to End Sexual Violence and a former UN youth ambassador for
Sexual Violence in Conflict, appeared in court in Manhattan on
Tuesday.

He has been charged with enticement of a minor
to engage in sexual activity and attempted sexual exploitation of a
minor, as well as child pornography offences.

In text exchanges with FBI agents posing as
paedophiles, Davis “allegedly arranged to meet the nine-year-old
daughter of one of the undercover agents and with the purported
two-year-old daughter of the officer’s girlfriend”, the Daily Mail reports.

Child pornography, including images of infants
and toddlers being abused, was allegedly also found in his
possession.

Police said that, during questioning after his arrest,
Davis “admitted to sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in the past
and keeping child porn images on his phone”, NBC reports.

Davis is currently listed on his LinkedIn profile as
director of the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender
Violence in Conflict, a project founded in 2012 by Nobel laureates
which now involves more than 5,000 people and organisations.

“In the same period he exchanged messages with the undercover
agents, Davis also addressed an independently-organised TED
conference, explaining that his first job was to transcribe the
testimony of rape victims in Congo,”  news agency BNO News reports.

In a statement, FBI assistant director William
F. Sweeney Jr. said that Davis’ alleged crimes indicate “the
highest degree of hypocrisy” in light of his public profile as a
defender of sexually-exploited youth.

“As if this wasn’t repulsive enough, Davis
allegedly possessed and distributed utterly explicit images of
innocent infants and toddlers being sexually abused by adults,”
Sweeney said.

US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said that the
conduct alleged against Davis is “as unfathomable as it is
sickening”.

Davis has yet to enter a plea to the
charges.