New York man sentenced in Michigan court to 30 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child
A federal judge in Michigan has sentenced a New York man who admitted to sexually exploiting a child to 30 years in prison, according to a court document filed Friday.
Judge Hala Y. Jarbou also ordered the man, Ryan Dookhan, to register as a sex offender following his release from prison.
A court filing supporting a criminal complaint said a Michigan State Police trooper was called to the home of an 11-year-old girl in Petoskey, Michigan, in September 2024. The girl's family, at the time, had discovered she had been "engaging in sexual conversations" and sending explicit photos to men on the gaming platform Roblox and the application Justalk, the filing said.
The girl, while speaking to a forensic interviewer with a women's resource center in Michigan, said she met a guy, later identified as Dookhan, on Roblox, according to the filing. They used the chat feature on the application to communicate.
According to court documents, the girl said she played "three or four times" with Dookhan before he told her to download Justalk. She allegedly used her grandmother's phone to download Justalk.
When they first spoke on the phone, the girl said Dookhan told her he would take her from her parents if she didn't comply with his sexually explicit demands, the filing said. It went on to say that she then took a few photos of herself and sent them to Dookhan because she "was scared."
Dookhan's name and multiple photos of his face were obtained by law enforcement from the conversations, according to court documents.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Michigan, said Dookhan targeted the girl while working as a security guard at an elementary school in New York.
"It is appalling when someone trusted to protect students abuses that position to prey on them," Homeland Security Investigations Detroit Acting Deputy Special Agent in Charge Jeremy Pierczynski said in a written statement. "That betrayal is unacceptable, and we remain committed to protecting children and holding offenders accountable."
Homeland Security Investigations helped the Michigan State Police with its investigation.
If you know of a child who may have been a victim of exploitation, call the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or visit the website.
