WASHINGTON, DC — A 37-year-old man of Clinton, MD, was arrested on suspicion of child sex trafficking on Sunday, August 2, by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Youth and Family Services Division, Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.
It was the second arrest of the sex trafficking of children happening in 2019. The suspect was identified as Anthony Gray. The detectives first acted on a DC District Court order and apprehended a 27-year-old adult male, of Clinton, MD, on May 1, 2019, charging him with sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and obstruction of justice.
Acting on DC District Court arrest warrant, the police officers arrested Gray and charged him with sex trafficking of a minor, conspiracy to sex traffic a minor, conspiracy to transport a minor for sexual activity, use of a facility of interstate commerce in aid of racketeering activity and tampering with a witness.
According to the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, children account for half of the victims of human trafficking. The average age of victims involved in sex trafficking is 12 years old. Young people who are under the age of 18 and are involved in a commercial sex act would be considered victims of trafficking.
Most of the children becoming victims of sex trafficking are already in vulnerable situations such as living in poverty, staying in foster care or struggling in school.
“Child sex trafficking happens every day in DC and the surrounding metro area, often flying under the radar, seemingly invisible as young girls and boys are pulled more deeply into the life through abuse, manipulation and fear,” stated Children’s Law Center.
