Truck driver’s Nebraska traffic stop results in 29-year prison sentence for sex assault of teen

David M. Platt, 58, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for Nebraska on a charge of transporting a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. Platt was arrested during a traffic stop near Lexington, Nebraska, on May 15, 2022, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr. 

He was further sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release following completion of his sentence. Additionally, Platt was ordered to pay $29,000 in restitution. 

Lehr’s statement said Platt met a 15-year-old through a social media website where the minor victim was posting about wanting to run away from home. He made a plan to pick up the minor victim from California and travel across the country in his semitrailer truck.

On May 12, 2022, Platt picked up the teen, who was then reported missing by their family. During the traffic stop near Lexington, Platt admitted to touching the teen in a sexual manner.

The victim was taken to a child advocacy center, where they disclosed that Platt had sexually assaulted them each day of the four-day trip. The victim told the same information to a medical examiner.

During an investigation, authorities learned of Platt’s sexual preference for preteen to teenage girls and his pattern in attempting to find a child to travel with him for sex. Platt had been found guilty of sexual assault in 2012 in Texas and was on a sex offender registry at the time of his latest arrest. 

This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol and the FBI.