Police chief paid for sex acts with underage girl while wearing his uniform, feds say
.jpg "A police chief paid for sex acts with an underage girl in West Virginia, prosecutors say.")
The former police chief of a small West Virginia town is facing over a decade in prison after he was found guilty of sex trafficking an underage girl, federal prosecutors said.
While chief of police for the Gauley Bridge Police Department, Larry Allen Clay Jr., 57, paid a woman $100 for sexual acts with her 17-year-old stepdaughter, according to prosecutors.
Clay knew the victim was a minor and forced her to perform sex acts with him on two separate occasions while wearing his police uniform in June 2020, court documents show. He also worked for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department at the time, officials said.
A jury has found Clay guilty of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor and via coercion, sex trafficking of a minor and via coercion and two counts of obstruction of justice after a four day trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of West Virginia announced in an April 28 news release.
“The young victim had the courage and toughness to come forward and tell the jury about these horrific crimes,” U.S. Attorney Will Thompson said in a statement. “She is incredibly brave.”
Sebastian M. Joy, an attorney representing Clay, told McClatchy News in a statement on May 1 that they will be appealing the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“We respect the jury’s verdict, but we strongly disagree with it,” Clay said.
The victim’s stepmother pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking on Sept. 21, 2021, and will be sentenced on May 11, prosecutors said. She’s facing up to life in prison.
Her attorney J. Miles Morgan declined a request for comment from McClatchy News on May 1.
McClatchy News is not naming the stepmother to protect the identity of the victim.
The sheriff’s department is alerted to sex trafficking
A few months after officials say Clay forced the victim into sexual acts, she reported him to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department in September 2020 and an investigation ensued, according to an affidavit.
That same month, Clay tried convincing the stepmother to lie to authorities and asked a law enforcement officer whether “his criminal conduct could be covered up,” prosecutors said.
According to the affidavit, the stepmother would take naked photos of the victim and told her to take pictures of herself. The stepmother would send these images to Clay and other individuals and would sometimes be paid for doing so, the affidavit says.
The first sexual encounter with Clay took place in June 2020 when the stepmother drove the victim to a rural road in Fayette County to meet him, according to the affidavit.
There, Clay arrived in his police vehicle and forced the victim to engage in sex acts with him by the car, according to the affidavit.
Afterward, Clay paid the stepmother, the affidavit says.
The second sexual encounter occurred at a Gauley Bridge Police Department office inside the old Gauley Bridge High School, according to a trial brief. This office could only be accessed by police, according to prosecutors.
Clay forced the victim into sex acts inside the office after her stepmother brought her there, the trial brief says.
During the investigation, DNA evidence was found on a washcloth left behind in the office, prosecutors said.
Clay is facing a minimum 15 years in prison and up to life in prison at his sentencing on July 20, prosecutors said. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.
‘The truth always comes to light’
At a news conference on April 28, Thompson emphasized the victim’s courage in speaking out about Clay and described the case as “horrific.”
He said she’s “had a very tough life up until this point” and that “her mother died when she was 14.”
“She didn’t have a lot of family members to watch out for her,” Thompson added.
He also read a statement from the victim, which said:
“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. I’ve seen that saying and used it in so many ways. Don’t give up because things get difficult. Just because things get scary doesn’t mean that they always end badly. Bad things happen to good people, but at the end of the day the truth always comes to light. Always speak up. Someone will hear you eventually.”
Fayette County is about 55 miles southeast of Charleston.
This story was originally published May 1, 2023 at 12:42 PM with the headline "Police chief paid for sex acts with underage girl while wearing his uniform, feds say."
.jpg)