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Joon Kim, the acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York said on Tuesday that 36-year-old David Ohnmacht was facing charges for allegedly persuading a 14-year-old to engage in sexual activity, videotape it and transmit it to him via Instagram, despite his status as a registered sex offender stemming back to a 2003 conviction for sexually abusing several teens.
Beginning in November last year and extending through last month, Kim said that the Katonah resident who works in New Rochelle, communicated online with his victim utilizing the screen names “Dannyw290” and “little.kitty.love.” During those illegal communications, Ohnmacht threatened to expose prior videos to her friends on Instagram if she didn’t continue the activity.
“David Ohnmacht allegedly convinced a 14-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit videos of herself and threatened to release it to her friends if she did not send more.” Kim said in a statement. “It is one of law enforcement’s most important missions to protect children from this type of allegedly predatory conduct.”
According to Kim, Ohnmacht was convicted originally on Aug. 19, 2003 in Westchester County Court for multiple sexual abuse and assault charges that included possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child, first-degree rape, use of a child less than 17 years of age in a sexual performance, possessing a sexual performance by a child, sodomy, intercourse and forcible compulsion.
Ohnmacht was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of between 40 months and 10 years. Kim said he served approximately nine years in prison before being released in 2011. He then began a mandatory five-year term of post-release supervision that ended the same month he began communicating with his victim. His prior conviction involved four different victims between the ages of 13 and 15.
Police arrested Ohnmacht in Katonah on Monday. He is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years or a maximum of 50 years in state prison.
“Our job as law enforcement is to protect people from criminals, but our job gets harder as more predators approach children and take advantage of them,” FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney, Jr. said. “Those alleged predators have more access in this digital age than they’ve ever had before, but as parents we have to be the first line of defense by talking with them and making sure they know the dangers that lurk online.
“The alleged subject in this case is what parents fear the most, a known sexual predator making contact with their child. Our jobs may get harder, but that won’t stop us from going after and stopping criminals from preying on our children.”
Kim said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone who may have encountered someone using the user name “Dannyw290” or “little.kitty.love” can contact the FBI at (914) 925-3700.
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