A Freeburg man, Clayton R. Collins, 35, plead guilty and was sentenced in federal district court to 25 years in prison on February 4, 2013, on a five-count indictment charging him with Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity, Transportation of Child Pornography, Receipt of Child Pornography, Possession of Child Pornography, and Receipt of Obscene Matter, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Following his prison sentence, Collins will be on federal supervised release for the remainder of his life and will also be required to register as a sex offender. Collins has been in custody since his arrest on June 15, 2012.
A factual stipulation filed with the Court revealed that in September, 2011, Collins began communicating with a 13-year-old female through an Internet social networking website. Collins used this website and subsequent text messages to induce the 13-year-old female to engage in sexual intercourse. Collins had sexual intercourse with the minor on four separate occasions between Sept. 28, 2011 and Oct. 16, 2011. During a forensic examination of Collins’ computer, numerous images containing child pornography were recovered. These images included 101 images of another identified 13-year-old female engaged in sexually explicit conduct whom Collins had also met through a social networking website. These images had been transported and received through Collins’ cellular phone and computer. Additional files recovered from Collins’ computer included numerous video and image files containing depictions of bestiality.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources."
This investigation was conducted by the United States Secret Service Southern Illinois Cyber-Crime Unit and the Illinois State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ali Summers.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
