This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A federal grand jury has indicted a Stansbury Park man on pornography charges for allegedly enticing four children to engage in sexually explicit conduct that he then photographed.
John Reid Clayton, 29, faces four counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. The victims were ages 5 and younger, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah.
The date Clayton began filming the children is unknown, according to a court document, but ended around Sept. 29, 2012.
Clayton also faces state charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two counts of rape of a child, both first-degree felonies, based on attacks that involve two of the same victims. Investigators found 483 images of child pornography on a thumb drive taken from Clayton's home; two of the child victims were shown in several of the images. The state charges were filed in October and January. It wasn't clear if those charges will be dismissed in lieu of the federal case. Clayton has been in jail while the state charges were pending.
According to a probable cause statement, Clayton admitted to a sheriff's deputy he had assaulted one victim and that he needed help for his "disease." The state charges carry sentences of 15 years-to-life in prison.
The Tooele County Sheriff's Office, Tooele City Police Department and the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children task force participated in the investigation. Federal charges were filed as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat "epidemic" child sexual exploitation.
Clayton faces a mandatory minimum federal prison sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years for each of the production charges. The possession charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison.