A 23-year-old Sussex County man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Aug. 27 for transporting a minor across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. 

According to federal court documents, Miles Clark, then 21, met the 12-year-old victim on Snapchat, exchanged sexually explicit messages describing sexual acts he intended to commit with the victim, and sent her sexually explicit videos of himself. About a week later, records state, Clark drove nearly 200 miles to Pennsylvania, picked up the victim from a church near her home, and transported her across state lines to his residence in Delaware, where he sexually abused her. Clark knew the victim was a minor, officials said.

“This defendant deliberately took a child across state lines to abuse her,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin L. Wallace in a press release. “The sexual exploitation of children causes unthinkable harm, and I am grateful for our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners’ tireless work to keep our community safe from people who prey on children.”

Upon his release from prison, officials said, Clark will serve eight years of supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.
The FBI’s Delaware Violent Crime and Safe Streets Task Force investigated the case with assistance from the Delaware State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Claudia L. Pare and Kevin B. Smith prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, go to justice.gov/psc.