19-year-old on pre-trial release arrested for sexual activity with 15-year-old girl

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dontavis Deon Banks, 19, has been charged with lewd and lascivious molestation and battery for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.

A Gainesville Police Department detective reported that Banks met the victim when she was 12 and he was 16, and they have followed each other on social media since that time. A few months ago, when the victim was 15, Banks met up with the victim and her younger sister, walked around the neighborhood with them, and bought chips and a drink for the victim. The next day, Banks reportedly offered to order an Uber for both girls from their home to his and back. During a text conversation about getting together, the victim reportedly said she didn’t want Banks to get “too touchy.”

After the two girls traveled to Banks’s home in an Uber, they reportedly spent about 60 minutes in his bedroom, and Banks asked the victim to engage in sexual activities with him, but she said no. The victim’s younger sister reportedly overheard this and told the victim she found it disturbing and then walked out of the room and out of the home; the victim reportedly followed a few minutes later, and Banks ordered an Uber to take them home.

The victim reportedly said that while the girls were in Banks’s room, Banks sent her a text, asking her to move closer, and then he began touching her in a sexual way before moving her on top of him. She said she heard her sister leave the room and saw that as a “perfect opportunity” to extricate herself from the situation.

The detective reported that GPS information on the victim’s cell phone confirmed that she was at Banks’s home at the time of the alleged incident, and text messages confirmed that Banks ordered Ubers for the girls. The victim’s phone also reportedly had text messages from Banks, giving her instructions during the time she was in his room, along with text messages from the victim’s sister that told the victim she was ready to go home.

While the victim and her sister were waiting for the Uber, Banks reportedly sent the victim text messages that included, “Ok that’s my fault… So you was [fine with] everything else… Maybe next time we can try some new things.”

Under Florida statutes, any sexual activity between an adult and a person under 16 years old is considered to be lewd and lascivious battery. Any touching of “the breasts, genitals, genital area, or buttocks, or the clothing covering them” by an adult with a victim under 16 is considered to be lewd and lascivious molestation.

Banks has been charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery and two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation. He has juvenile convictions in 2024 and 2025 and was on juvenile probation at the time of the incident. In August 2025, when he was 18, he was arrested after allegedly refusing to disengage from a fight when ordered by police officers and then trying to flee when he was detained. He posted $2,500 bail and was released. Today, Judge David Kreider granted a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.