Pittsburgh Resident Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Child Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 360 months in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, on his conviction of sex trafficking of a child and the production and attempted production of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

United States District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand imposed the sentence on James Clark, 39, of the Carrick neighborhood of Pittsburgh on July 20, 2026.

According to information presented to the Court, Clark provided housing to a female runaway minor, and produced images of the minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. In addition, Clark trafficked the girl to another individual in exchange for, among other things, allowing the child to maintain shelter at his residence.

Judge Wiegand sentenced Clark to 360 months in prison on one count of sex trafficking of a minor and 360 months in prison on six counts of sexual exploitation of children, with the sentences running concurrently. Clark will also have to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Assistant United States Attorney Robert C. Schupansky prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Allegheny County Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Clark.

This case was brought as 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 and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

If you are the victim of human trafficking or may have information about a potential trafficking situation, please call the FBI, local law enforcement, or the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) at 1-888-373-7888. NHTRC is a national, toll-free hotline, with specialists available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year related to potential trafficking victims, suspicious behaviors, and/or locations where trafficking is suspected to occur. To submit a tip to the NHTRC online, please visit https://humantraffickinghotline.org/report-traffickingLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..
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