Man met minor on TikTok, then at North Myrtle Beach hotel for sex, police say
A man met a minor on TikTok, and later met with her in person at a North Myrtle Beach hotel for sex, police reports say.
Dakota Gabriel Pratt, 20, conversed with a 14-year-old girl through TikTok messages, where the two shared sexually explicit images, police reports say. In April, the pair met up at a North Myrtle Beach hotel on Highway 17 North, where the victim admitted they had sex several times.
Pratt and the girl had been in contact on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat from April to May 2025, and the girl shared that she sent and received sexually explicit images during that time.
The girl completed an interview with the Children’s Recovery Center in Myrtle Beach on Sept. 10, 2025, during which she shared that she and Pratt met at the hotel on the weekend of April 18-20, 2025, and the weekend of April 25-27, 2025. Police found that a room was registered to Pratt during that time, and the GPS coordinates from the girl’s phone put her in the hotel that weekend, according to the incident report.
During chat conversations on May 4, Pratt indicated that he initially thought the girl was his age. But after the first time they met up, he realized she was younger than him, the incident report says.
Pratt also indicated that he knew his actions were “illegal and immoral,” the incident report states, and that he was “grooming” the girl because of their age difference.
Investigators found on Pratt’s Snapchat account that he solicited and received numerous images of “child sexual assault material” from the victim from April 2025 to June 2025. Pratt requested videos and pictures of the girl in “a state of explicit nudity” and conducting sexual acts, which she sent.
Pratt was booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on Friday, where he remains.
He faces three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree; two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, third degree; and one count of criminal sexual conduct with a minor 11-14 years of age, second degree. His total bond is $140,000.
