New York man sentenced to 10 years for sexual crimes against Nebraska minor

SARPY COUNTY, Neb. -- A New York man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Omaha for transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. 

Acting United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that 33-year-old Armando Daniels, of New York, was sentenced in federal court Thursday in Omaha.

Daniels was sentenced after being convicted for transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

The U.S. District Judge sentenced Daniels to 10 years in prison. Court documents said that after completing his prison sentence, Daniels will begin a 5-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. 

Court documents said that between January and April of 2021, Daniels, who was 32 years old at the time, communicated with the victim, a 15-year-old female from Sarpy County, through cell phone and internet apps including Discord.

In April of 2021, Daniels drove from his home in N.Y. to pick up the victim and take her to back to his home.

On the evening of April 6, 2021, Daniels arrived in Neb., picked up the victim, and began driving her to N.Y. The victim had left her cell phone at home in Neb.

Later that evening, when the victim’s family noticed she was missing, they called authorities and Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office instantly began looking for her.

Using call records associated with the victim, deputies obtained cell phone location data of phones that had recently been in contact with the victim.

The found data showed the phones traveling east across Iowa and Ill. The data also showed that on the evening of April 7, 2021, the phones were in Princeton, Ill.

The investigation later showed that Daniels had sexually assaulted the victim at a hotel in Princeton. It was reported that there was surveillance footage from the hotel that showed Daniels and the victim there together.

Around 4 a.m. on April 8, 2021, Indiana State Troopers found Daniels and the victim in Elkhart, Ind.

Daniels and the victim were parked in Daniels’ car. It was at this moment that Indiana State troopers arrested Daniels.