Tampa, Florida - Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces that U.S. District Judge James S. Moody, Jr. has found Clayton Junior Thornburg (55, Iuka, Mississippi) guilty of attempted enticement of a minor, attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, transportation of child pornography, and enhanced penalties for sex offenders. He faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years, up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2018.
According to evidence presented at trial, between August and November 2015, Thornburg communicated online with an undercover agent who he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. He repeatedly expressed explicit interest in having sex with the “child," and he sent multiple pornographic images and videos in attempts to illustrate what “it’s like for a young girl to have sex." Thornburg is a two-time convicted sex offender and was on probation in Illinois for possession of child pornography at the time of the offenses in this case.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa M. Thelwell and Stacie B. Harris.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by 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.justice.gov/psc.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
