JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Clive S. Nelson (23, Jacksonville) today pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking. Nelson faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, Nelson enticed and recruited a 15-year-old female to engage in commercial sex acts for him. Nelson advised the child that she could earn up to $600 per day working for him if she would permit him to advertise her on the Internet. Nelson then took photos of the child wearing lingerie and posing provocatively. He used these photos to compile advertisements for sex with the child on various Internet advertising sites. Nelson also rented local hotel rooms in Jacksonville and transported the child to these hotels. She engaged in commercial sex acts at the hotels with customers who responded to the ads and were willing to pay money to have sex with the child. When potential customers arrived to have sex with the child, Nelson would engage in surveillance from the hotel parking lot to ensure that the offenders were not the police. Once the offender and the child completed the commercial sex act, Nelson would collect the money from the child.

Nelson prostituted the child in this fashion from November 29, 2013 through December 15, 2013, when police officers from a specialized patrol unit of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office located Nelson and the child in a hotel parking lot.

This case was investigated by a joint task force of investigators with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mac D. Heavener, III.

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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.