Morro Bay man sentenced to prison for attempting to entice child for sex, DOJ says
A Morro Bay man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Eastern District of Virginia for enticing a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
According to a news release from the United States Department of Justice, 30-year-old Cash Taylor Dalton pled guilty to a charge of enticement of a minor living in Prince William County, Virginia, on Jan. 16.
Agents from the FBI started investigating Dalton after the 12-year-old victim’s parents discovered communications between Dalton and their daughter, according to the release.
The FBI investigation found that Dalton and the victim had been communicating for approximately three months, during which time Dalton had sent the victim sexually explicit images of himself and graphic sexual messages via text and email, “including messages directing her to engage in sexual activity and directing her to record herself engaging in sexual activity and send those recordings to him,” according to the release.
Dalton and the victim also discussed meeting in person to have sex, prompting the FBI to execute a search warrant at Dalton’s home in November 2024, according to the release.
The search warrant yielded evidence of Dalton’s communications with the victim, along with three other children under the age of 16, according to the release.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, which coordinates federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims, according to the release.
Trial attorney Nadia Prinz of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 2:42 PM.
