Will Thompson, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, stands with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald (left) and Pat Kelly, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, at a news conference Thursday following the sentencing of Larry Allen Clay, Jr. (Caity Coyne | West Virginia Watch)
A former Fayette County, West Virginia law enforcement officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday for sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl and attempting to use his position of authority as a police officer to cover it up.
Larry Allen Clay Jr., 58, was serving as chief of police with the Gauley Bridge Police Department and as a deputy with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department in 2020 when he paid $50 on two separate occasions to a woman to “have sex” with her stepdaughter, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
The child is only identified by her initials in the court proceedings. West Virginia Watch is not naming the stepmother to protect the identity of the child. It is our policy to not name survivors of sexual violence.
The stepmother — who was the only family the victim had, according to statements — pleaded guilty in 2021 to conspiring to sex-traffic her minor stepdaughter. She is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for the charge.
Clay’s sentencing Thursday followed a four day trial last April, where a jury found him guilty on charges of conspiring to engage in sex trafficking of a minor via coercion, sex trafficking a minor via coercion and two counts of obstruction of justice. In addition to the 25 year prison sentence, Clay will have 10 years of supervised release and has been ordered to pay $80,000 in restitution to the victim. Once out of prison, Clay must also register as a sex offender.
According to court documents, Clay was having an extramarital affair with the child’s stepmother, who took sexually explicit photos of the child and shared them with Clay and others after he expressed sexual interest in her despite knowing her age.
In June 2020, she drove her stepdaughter to a rural road in Cain Branch, outside Gauley Bridge, where they met Clay.
Clay arrived in his police cruiser, according to court documents. Wearing his Gauley Bridge Police uniform, badge, duty belt and police department issued gun, Clay proceeded to force the child to have sex with him against the city-issued police car.
The second incident was “even worse,” according to U.S. Attorney Will Thompson.
Then, Clay brought the child to a police substation in the basement of the former Gauley Bridge High School. He proceeded to again, while wearing his badge, gun and uniform, force the child to have sex with him.
After the assault, the stepmother gave the child a towel to “clean herself.” The victim, according to the initial criminal complaint, “threw the towels in the corner,” where police later retrieved them and were able to identify Clay’s DNA.
The victim reported what happened to law enforcement, kicking off a years long saga. Clay attempted to persuade the stepmother to lie to law enforcement about the trafficking and asked a fellow law enforcement officer if his crimes “could be covered up.”
Thompson said the law enforcement involved in the case — the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, West Virginia State Police and the federal Department of Homeland Security, among others — did “everything they were supposed to do” when the victim reached out to them.
Since making the report, Thompson said Clay has done “the exact opposite” of accepting any responsibility for his “horrific” actions.
“He tried to hinder and delay the sentencing in this case, he tried again today to delay the sentencing of the case,” Thompson said. “Thankfully, the judge saw through that and followed through with the sentencing, giving some closure to the hero of the case, that being the victim.”
Thompson said Clay is now “where he needs to be” — in federal prison.
“I’ll let the public decide what Mr. Clay should be viewed as, but I don’t view him as very much of a human. He was able to take advantage of his law enforcement position. He was wearing a badge when this happened,” Thompson said. “[The victim] is the reason that he will not be able to inflict this type of damage on any other little girls. She deserves to be recognized as a hero.”
Thompson urged anyone who has been a victim of rape, sex trafficking or any other crime to reach out law enforcement and report it. If they are uncomfortable doing so, he said they can call the U.S. Attorney’s office at 304-345-2200.
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