COLUMBUS, Ohio - A United States District Court jury convicted Antonio L. Sibley, 38, of Akron, Ohio with production of child pornography.
Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, along with members of the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, including Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Marlon V. Miller, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Colonel Paul Pride of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs announced verdict reached today, which was returned following a trial that began on May 18 before U.S. District Judge Frost.
According to court testimony, in July 2014, while Sibley was harboring a 17-year-old girl in a motel room in Whitehall, Ohio, he took sexually explicit photographs of her and advertised her on internet websites for paid sexual services. Members of the Human Trafficking Task Force found the girl during an undercover operation on July 31, 2014, and thereafter found the pornographic photographs Sibley had taken on a phone that was in the motel room. The victim testified that she and Sibley had been involved in a sexual relationship since she was 15 years old, and that Sibley had taken the pornographic photographs of her.
“Cases such as this one highlight the importance of collaboration among various law enforcement agencies and with service providers like the Salvation Army," said Assistant United States Attorney Heather A. Hill. “This case would not have been possible without all of the tremendous work of all of the members of the Human Trafficking Task Force, the Salvation Army, and the special assistance of Brant Cook, the director of the Ohio Attorney General’s Crimes Against Children Initiative."
The jury convicted Sibley of production of child pornography, a crime punishable by a sentence ranging from a mandatory minimum 15 years in prison to 30 years in prison. The jury could not reach a verdict on a second charge of sex trafficking of a minor.
Sibley was arrested on Aug. 11, 2014, by members of the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force at the Casa Villa Motel in Whitehall, Ohio, and remains in custody. He was indicted on Sept. 11, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation of this case by the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, which was formed in 2012 and is part of the Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, also includes authorities from the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), Columbus Division of Police, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Powell Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Delaware County Prosecutor's Office. Assistant United States Attorney Heather A. Hill and Special Assistant United States Attorney General Brant Cook represented the government in this case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
