Trucker sentenced to 29 years in prison for taking minor across state lines for sex – Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — A truck driver was sentenced this week in Nebraska to 29 years in prison after meeting a teenager through social media and transporting the minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity.

Nebraska U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr announced the sentencing of David Mark Platt, 58, a former Washington state resident.

According to federal investigators, Platt met a 15-year-old in the spring of 2022 through a website called Quora, where the minor was posting messages about wanting to run away from home.

Platt planned to pick up the minor in California and travel across the country together in his tractor-trailer, according to investigators. Platt knew the teen's age, investigators said. On May 12, 2022, he recovered the minor. Shortly after, the family reported the minor missing.

On May 15, Platt's tractor-trailer was stopped by law enforcement officers near Lexington, Nebraska. During the stop, Platt admitted to touching the minor in a sexual manner, the news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The minor was taken to a child welfare center and revealed that Platt had sexually assaulted him every day of the trip.

Investigators said search warrant results from the social media platform revealed that Platt expected the minor to have sex with him and “other things he expected from the minor victim” .

“The results of the search warrant also showed Platt's preference for preteen and teenage girls, as well as his tendency to find a child to travel with him for sexual purposes and his preference for BDSM sex,” according to the release. Press.

Platt was on the sex offender registry at the time of the crime, the release said.

U.S. District Judge John Gerrard sentenced Platt on one count of transporting a minor to engage in unlawful sexual conduct. After his prison sentence, he will benefit from supervised release for life. He was also ordered to pay $29,000 in restitution.