Issue of sex trafficking raised after August 2021 arrest

JACKSON, Tenn. — The topic of sex trafficking has been raised after a local man was arrested.

Christopher Clark was arrested by the Jackson Police Department in August of 2021.

Clark offered money in exchange for sex from a girl who he thought was 16-years-old on an online website.

The girl was actually an undercover police officer posing as a minor. After the two exchanged text messages, Clark arrived at the location where the fake minor and he agreed to meet. He was then arrested by the police.

Monday, Clark plead guilty to one count of trafficking for a commercial sex act and solicitation of a minor for statutory rape.

“I want to make sure that people understand. A lot of times when people think of sex trafficking, they’re thinking of random vans just like snatching people up. That’s not necessarily the case,” said Capt. Danielle Jones, with the Jackson Police Department.

In this case, this type of sex trafficking is similar to prostitution, but has a key difference.

There is a difference between prostitution and sex trafficking. With prostitution, you have an exchange of a sexual act or a sexual service for currency of some kind. And with sex trafficking, you still have that exchange of currency.

However, the sexual service or sexual act is no longer voluntarily given. The reason for this may be because this person is a minor or they were strongly coerced into doing so.

“With trafficking, it’s usually involuntary. There’s some sort of force, and you really have no choice in what you’re doing, and you’re basically told, ‘You’re going to do this,'” Jones said.

Jones said, often times, these sex trafficking cases come in the form of adults talking to minors on social media or online chat rooms.

She strongly suggests that parents be aware of who your kids are talking to and teach them how to be safe online.

Clark faces more than four years in prison. If you think someone could be a victim of sex trafficking, call the national hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

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