PHILADELPHIA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Eastern), published as received.
PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Victor Clayton, 47, of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release by United States District Judge R. Barclay Surrick, for sex trafficking of two minors across state lines.
In November 2022, the defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of sex trafficking of a minor, and one count of attempted sex trafficking of a minor. The charges arose from Clayton’s trafficking of a 16-year-old minor in at least four local hotels in Philadelphia in early 2018, after which he kept half of the proceeds paid to the minor by sex buyers. He then picked up that victim’s 15-year-old friend and drove both girls to Dunn, North Carolina, with the intention to cause them to engage in prostitution there. While in North Carolina, the defendant sexually assaulted the second minor, according to court papers.
“The crime that this defendant committed is one of the most devastating to victims that our Office prosecutes,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Clayton forced a young person, a minor child, to sell her body for his own greed and financial gain, attempted to do the same to her friend, and did, in fact, assault that girl himself. We will continue to work collectively to investigate these destructive crimes against some of the most vulnerable victims in our community.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Dunn, North Carolina Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michelle Morgan and Amanda Reinitz.
