Raymond Davis Reaches Plea Deal in Sex-Crime Case

Prominent Las Vegas poker pro Raymond Davis has reached a plea deal with Nevada authorities to resolve sex-related charges that could have resulted in a lengthy prison stint. Instead, after already spending more than a year behind bars, he has been released with a time-served sentence, though he could still face a one-to-six-year term should he fail to adhere to the conditions of his release.

Davis’s saga dates back several years. The founder of the RealGrinders poker players group was arrested in April 2019 on an open warrant issued in 2016 that went unfilled despite Davis’s relatively high profile in the Las Vegas gambling community. The criminal complaint against Davis involved multiple activities of sexual activity with three minors, the primary accuser being under age 14, with the activity having occurred in 2014 and 2015. 

Davis was alleged by the primary victim, then 13, to have paid cash and offered other financial aid in exchange for oral sex and other lewd activities. Investigators ultimately filed nine felony charges against Davis, though none of the agencies involved have ever made a statement as to why Davis remained free -- and highly visible on the Vegas scene -- for nearly three years.

Once in custody, Davis’s own behavior made a bad situation worse. Originally freed on $25,000 bond, Davis was remanded on a much higher $500,000 bond after repeated courtroom outbursts and violations. Davis also fired multiple attorneys and unsuccessfully sought to represent himself, as a court-ordered public defender eventually provided formal representation.

Meanwhile, according to multiple reports, Davis turned down a plea deal on multiple occasions, though when his trial began earlier this month and the evidence began to be presented, he changed his mind and accepted the offer. Rather than battle the nine charges, which included included three counts of sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14, two counts of lewdness with a child under the age of 14, and other chargeable acts, Davis instead pled guilty to a felony coercion charge (with no sexual behavior element) and a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Within days of being freed, Davis posted a statement via the 17,000-member RealGrinders Facebook group, where he has resumed admin duties. In the statement, Davis continued to profess his innocence while claiming the jury was stacked against him -- it reportedly contained only one black juror -- and that he had no choice to take the deal.

Davis’s statement and return to the RealGrinders scene led to a strange sidebar in the saga involving another poker-world veteran, Terry King. King had been a longtime friend of Davis’s and had held an admin role in the RealGrinders group. King recounted how she had helped Davis with thousands of dollars in legal fees and cared for his pets while Davis was jailed, though she claimed Davis ultimately accused her of theft, and the friendship ended bitterly. King wrote, “He swore he was innocent, he said he vaguely remembered an extortion plot years ago,” in reference to the underaged girl at the heart of the criminal complaint against Davis.

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