A federal judge sentenced a West Virginia man for child exploitation Tuesday after the man admitted he’d driven from his West Virginia home to Alabama to have sex with a minor he’d met on SnapChat.

U.S. District Court Judge Liles C. Burke sentenced Andrew Scott Davis, 37, to 15 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Davis pleaded guilty in December 2020 to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

According to the plea agreement, Davis traveled from Circleville, West Virginia, to Madison County, Alabama, between May 2019 and January 2020, and met with the minor five times.

Davis began an online relationship with the minor through Snapchat. This conviction will require him to register as a sex offender in accordance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

“Protecting our children will always be a top priority of my office,” U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona said. “In today’s world of technology, it is important that parents educate their children about safe and appropriate online behavior and immediately report inappropriate contact between an adult and their child to law enforcement.”

“Social media and the internet are great tools for entertainment, education and collaboration, but they can also be great tools for predators looking to victimize our children,” said Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operations in Georgia and Alabama. “HSI and its law enforcement partners are dedicated to finding, arresting, and prosecuting those involved in this heinous crime.”