SALT LAKE CITY - John Reid Clayton, age 29, of Stansbury Park, Utah, charged in a federal indictment returned in February with four counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, pleaded guilty to production of child pornography in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City Wednesday afternoon.
As a part of his plea agreement, Clayton admitted that he engaged in sexually explicit conduct with four minor children, all born between 2007 and 2011, for the purpose of producing visual depictions of the conduct.
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups ordered Clayton to submit to a psychosexual examination prior to sentencing, which is set for July 16, 2013, at 3:30 p.m. Clayton faces up to 30 years in federal prison for the conviction with a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of supervised release of up to life.
Clayton must also register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. He also agreed to pay restitution in the case and to forfeit property associated with the criminal conduct.
The charges followed an investigation by the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, the Tooele City Police Department, and the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children task force
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
