Pasco Sheriff: Well-Known Child Predator Has Pleaded Guilty To Sex Crimes

TAMPA, FL — A 31-year-old Wesley Chapel man who is well-known in the community for driving around in a black Corvette and attempting to befriend young girls has pleaded guilty to two counts of enticement and coercion of a minor to engage in sex, announced United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg Thursday.

In addition to the two enticement counts, Clayton Everett Colborn pleaded guilty to five counts of using minors to produce child sexual abuse images and videos and one count of possessing child sexual abuse material.

Colborn faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years and up to life in federal prison and mandatory court-ordered restitution. Colborn also agreed to forfeit his cellphone, computers and any other electronic devices he used in his crimes along with the black Chevrolet Corvette, Handberg said.

A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco posted Handberg's announcement on the Pasco sheriff's Facebook page, providing a measure of relief to worried Wesley Chapel parents.

Working with the FBI, the Pasco sheriff's office has spent five years building a case against Colborn.

According to court documents, between 2018 and 2020, Colborn used a social networking app to befriend and groom young teens for sex. He used the name "Jason Rich" and pretended to be 16 years old when he was actually 27 and 28 years old at that time.

The FBI said the social networking app Colborn used is designed to help teens make friends in the same age range. App users are divided into two age ranges: ages 13 to 17 and ages 18 and older.

Using the fictitious "Jason Rich" profile, the FBI said Colborn struck up friendships with teens in the 13- to 17-year-old age group through the app. He would then entice them into meeting him and eventually having sex with him at locations throughout Tampa Bay, including his car, his apartment and the teens’ homes.

At one point, the Ocoee Police Department encountered Colborn in a public park in the middle of the night with a teen girl. Police said Colborn’s pants were unzipped.

Officers chased and apprehended him in the park. DNA evidence showed that Colborn had sex with the girl in the park, according to court records.

In all, the FBI identified and interviewed seven teen girls living in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Middle District Court of Florida, based in Tampa.

Eventually, the FBI, with the help of the Pasco sheriff's office and the Ocoee police, was able to obtain a federal search warrant for Colborn’s iCloud account. The FBI found approximately 30 videos and 81 images that Colborn produced of himself engaging in sex with various young girls in the 13- to 17-year-old age group, according to court records.

"PSO is proud of the work our members do in partnership with other agencies, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office," Nocco said. "Together, we seek closure for victims, including our youngest citizens, and work to ensure those who intend to do harm to our citizens are brought to justice for their actions."

The FBI believes there may be more victims and is asking anyone with information regarding Colborn or his aliases — Jason Rich, Jason, Clay or Clayay — to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-‪800-225-5324) or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

Project Safe Childhood

The case against Colborn is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local law enforcement to prosecute child sex offenders and predators.

As part of this effort, the United States Marshals Service opened the National Sex Offender Targeting Center in Arlington, Virginia, in 2009 to focus specifically on violations by the 780,000 people in the United States who are currently registered as sex offenders.

Under Project Safe Children, the Department of Justice said the number of child predators prosecuted by United States Attorney's Offices has increased by 40 percent.

However, this is only a fraction of tips received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In 2021, the center's CyberTipline received 29.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation, an increase of 35 percent from 2020.