Who Is Joel Davis? New Details About The 22-Year-Old Pedophile — And How He's Associated With Angelina Jolie
It's extremely disturbing.
instagram As sex trafficking and sexual abuse have come to the forefront in recent years, many celebrities and regular people like you and me have been joining the fight to end the violence, especially among minors. With organizations like the Polaris Project, Safe Horizon, and Darkness to Light, we’ve made great strides in changing and preventing atrocities like these.
But on the other end of the spectrum, there are wolves in sheep’s clothing, masquerading as helpful people who are passionate about a cause when they are actually as diabolical as the crimes they are trying to prevent. And the most recent one who’s been exposed is Joel Davis. And he might be taking Angelina Jolie down with him, due to their ties.
Who is Joel Davis? He’s a 22-year-old Columbia University student who founded Youth to End Sexual Violence, an organization dedicated to ending rape and sexual violence in conflict. He was also chairman of the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence.
But in late June, Davis was charged with possession and distribution of child pornography, attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. He now faces the possibility of spending 30 years to life behind bars. He was arrested after an undercover sting operation.
According to authorities, for a little over a month, starting in May, Davis sent explicit text messages, videos, and photos of children to undercover officers, responding to a post on a fetish website, where people often leave ads that solicit children for sex.
The FBI agent posted, “Looking for other no limits TABOO pervs in DC area. Bi dad here.” Davis, using the screen name "yngperv22" replied, saying, “Need me to come down and watch ur kids for a night :).”
He allegedly expressed interest in having sex with young children, discussing plans to meet with a 9-year-old and 2-year-old girl. Davis also sent a series of child pornography images, and requested more from the officers. His cell phone revealed a slew of explicit images.
In addition to these heinous allegations, Davis admitted to molesting and attempting to have sex with a 7-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl and engaged in sexual activities with a 13-year-old boy after chatting with him on Grindr.
In a statement from U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, he said, “Joel Davis started an organization devoted to stopping sexual violence, while allegedly engaged in the duplicitous behavior of sharing explicit images of infants engaged in sexual activity. The conduct alleged against Joel Davis is as unfathomable as it is sickening, and as this case demonstrates, law enforcement will keep its watchful eye on the darkest corners of the internet to bring predators to justice.”
Just as celebrities often take up these causes, this might be trouble for Angelina Jolie, especially in her divorce from Brad Pitt. The two are going through a lengthy court battle for custody of their six children. In 2014, Jolie invited Davis to attend a Nations conference geared toward ending sexual violence. And now, Pitt may use that as leverage for getting full custody.
According to an insider, “To think that Angie has been associating with a guy like this was enough to make Brad pick up the phone to his lawyers! His friends are urging him to really play this up as part of his bid for full custody. Brad must be having sleepless nights. He only has his kids’ best interests at heart and he’s willing to battle this out in court.”
What makes this all so disturbing, aside from the fact that Davis was living a sickening double life is that Davis blogged about being a survivor of sexual assault and even wrote an article for Huffington Post about the key youth play in ending sexual violence. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for establishing Youth to End Sexual Violence.
It’s important for us to move forward and trust that justice will be served for Davis’ victims. And we must continue the fight to end sexual abuse and rape.
Samantha Maffucci is an associate editor for YourTango. In her free time, you can find her obsessing about cats, wine, and all things Vanderpump Rules.