GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — We are learning more about how a 38-year-old Comstock Park man sex-trafficked a 16-year-old girl in Kent County.
Terrence Clay is facing charges of sexually abusive activity, human trafficking, possession of child-abusive material, and using a computer to commit a crime.
These charges stem from an investigation that began in October when the Human Trafficking Task Force received a tip about human trafficking.
Court documents revealed the teen girl had run away from a group home, and first met the accused at a Grand Rapids park.
She told Clay she was 18, court documents show, and the two left the park for a sexual encounter.
Days later, the girl told investigators Clay found her in the same park and he offered her food, clothing and a place to stay at a hotel for the next couple of weeks.
The teen told investigators Clay gave her a cellphone to track her location. She said Clay told her she needed to make him $200 a day, and threatened her if she didn't make the money.
Clay is accused of having nude photos of the teen on his phone and sharing advertisements for sex acts on social media.
On Nov. 12, Kent County Detectives began actively surveilling Clay and learned he traveled to the teen's home. She was then reported as a missing person.
Investigators found the pair in northern Michigan. Police issued alerts to authorities in the Upper Peninsula, and a Mackinac Bridge Authority employee spotted the man crossing the bridge with a person in the backseat, hidden under a blanket.
Police stopped the vehicle after it crossed the bridge and took the man into custody.
During an interview with Clay, detectives said he told them he knew the teen was 16.
He told investigators he planned to eventually take her to Georgia.
Clay is expected to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.
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