Cash Taylor Dalton of Morro Bay sentenced to ten years in prison for the sexual exploitation of a child
NORFOLK, Va. – Cash Taylor Dalton, 30, of Morro Bay was sentenced to ten years in prison and 30 years of supervised release for enticing a 12-year-old girl from Prince William County to engage in sex.
Dalton was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and a search warrant of his home resulted in evidence that he has been in communication with three other children under the age of 16 stated the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in a press release Thursday.
On Jan. 16 of this year, Dalton pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor shared the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to court documents, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began its investigation of Dalton after the parents of the 12-year-old girl found communications on her cell phone with Dalton.
The investigation showed that Dalton and the girl had been communicating for about three months, that he had sent her sexually explicit images of himself, "extremely graphic sexual messages via text and email", and messages directing the girl to engage in sexual activities and record herself and send those recordings to him.
Dalton and the 12-year-old also discussed meeting to have sex added the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In November of 2024, FBI agents served a search warrant at Dalton's home and recovered evidence of the 30-year-old's communications with the Prince William County girl as well as three other children under the age of 16 detailed the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in May of 2006, shared the U.S. Attorney's Office.
