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Loudoun man gets 8 years for soliciting child online, caught by Rappahannock Sheriff’s detective

by | Nov 30, 2025

focus on hammer, group of files on judge table covered with dust - concept of pending old cases or work at judicial court.
(Courtesy/Adobe Stock)

Judge: ‘Too much [jail] time,’ but approves anyway

Despite voicing concern that a negotiated eight-year sentence was “too much” jail time, Judge Robert Smith agreed to accept a plea deal in an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force case in Rappahannock County Circuit Court last Thursday.

David Ramey, 39, of Loudoun County, was arrested after initiating a lengthy online chat that “immediately turned sexual” with someone he believed was under 15, according to court records. The person on the other side of the conversation was Rappahannock Sheriff’s Detective Chris Garcia, participating in an ICAC sting while presenting himself online as a 14-year-old girl.

Ramey pleaded guilty to proposing a sexual act with a minor under 15 and to using a communications system to solicit a minor. Smith accepted the agreement of a 40-year sentence with 32 years suspended, leaving eight years of active incarceration. The proposition charge carries a mandatory minimum of five years.

Smith said he thought eight years was a high sentence for the charges.

“I think that’s too much,” Smith said from the bench. “Y’all know more about the case than I do, so I’ll go along with it.”

Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff said that there were additional, unprosecuted charges that were not part of the agreement. When Smith asked whether Goff and defense attorney John Clark were satisfied, the attorneys confirmed they were.

Ramey was immediately remanded into custody and joined a group of RSW Regional Jail inmates seated in the courtroom.

Author

  • Ireland Hayes

    Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner.
    Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.
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By Ireland Hayes

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Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.