A Clayton County man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking and rape involving a 15-year-old girl, the Georgia attorney general said Thursday.
Christopher Darren Weldon, 35, of Riverdale, entered a plea earlier this week and was sentenced to 25 years, according to Attorney General Chris Carr. After serving 15 years, Weldon will spend the remainder of his sentence on probation and will be on the state sex offender registry, Carr said in a news release.
The victim, whose name was not released, gave an impact statement in the Clayton courtroom prior to Weldon’s sentence.
“For three years, our Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit has poured over this multi-defendant case to ensure that the buyers and sellers are held responsible for the role they played in trafficking an underage girl,” Carr said.
During an interview in 2019, the victim told investigators she was sold for sex by Weldon and Theodore Browne Jr. over a period of several months in 2018.
The two Clayton County men were indicted in September on multiple charges, including human trafficking, aggravated child molestation, statutory rape and cruelty to children, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The case against Browne is pending.
In recent weeks, two more men were arrested for their alleged roles in trafficking the girl, Carr’s office previously said. Daniel Lee Horne, 30, of Stockbridge, and Gregory Michael Benoit, 27, of Marietta, have been charged with solicitation, statutory rape and aggravated child molestation.
Horne was arrested June 23 in Canton and Benoit was arrested July 3 in Brookhaven, Carr’s office said. Each was charged with trafficking persons for sexual servitude, statutory rape and aggravated child molestation. Both remained Thursday in the Clayton jail.
“With this guilty plea and prison sentence, we are one step closer to securing maximum justice for the victim, who has shown incredible strength and bravery throughout the criminal justice process,” Carr said. “As we have maintained since the very beginning, we are deeply committed to protecting the most vulnerable among us, and we will not rest until those who abuse and exploit Georgia’s children are put behind bars.”
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