A man from Perry County received a 23-year prison sentence on Thursday for the sexual exploitation of minors and for possessing materials related to child sexual abuse, as stated by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker.
According to the attorney’s office, 28-year-old Clay Thomas Wolfe from Junction City has been involved in soliciting child sexual abuse material from over 300 victims on Snapchat since 2018. Law enforcement has identified around 100 victims, many of whom are minors from various states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.
Wolfe fabricated a false identity on Snapchat, posing as a 15-year-old girl named Ally, and exploited this persona to request child sexual abuse material from primarily middle school and high school boys. Parker’s office reported that his Snapchat account included explicit photos and videos featuring minors as young as 10 and 11 years old.
In April 2022, authorities in Pennsylvania began an investigation after discovering that a sixth-grade student was distributing an explicit photo of a classmate. This photo had been sent by Wolfe, who was posing as “Ally.”
Wolfe was found in possession of around 850 images and 570 videos related to child sexual abuse.
Wolfe faced federal charges in June 2023 and entered a guilty plea in April 2024.