Michigan – Colin Clemente Martin, 34, received a 40-year sentence in a federal prison for two serious crimes: forcing a minor to do sexual acts and trying to get a minor to do these acts. This decision was made by Denise Page Hood, a judge, and Dawn N. Ison, a U.S. Attorney. Martin admitted he was guilty of these crimes in October 2022.
Colin Clemente Martin was doing this for years
The court found that between 2014 and 2017, Martin pretended to be a woman looking for talent on Musical.ly, an online app. He gained the trust of young people and then made them do terrible sexual things to make videos and photos for himself. If they wanted to stop, he threatened to show these videos and photos to their friends and post those materials online. He did this to at least eight young people.
Some brave victims reported the case to the police
Martin was caught because some of the young people he hurt were brave enough to tell the police in Illinois, Ohio, and Toronto, Canada. This led to the Michigan State Police getting involved in 2019. Then, in July 2020, Homeland Security Investigations searched Martin’s house. The agents from Homeland Security worked hard to find out what was on Martin’s devices and to find the young people he had harmed.
“The lengths to which individuals like Martin will go to exploit and traumatize children is truly reprehensible. The conduct in this case is horrific. Hopefully, this sentence sends a clear message to like-minded individuals: we will not allow you to harm our children and will use the full arsenal of our federal laws to stop you,” stated U.S. Attorney Ison.
“I commend the victims in this case for their courage in coming forward to report these crimes. Their efforts helped prevent the victimization of other children and put this predator away for a long time,” said HSI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Angie M. Salazar. “We should all continue to be mindful of the dangers our children face online and have conversations early and often on how to report this crime to the authorities.”
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tara Hindelang and was investigated by agents of Homeland Security Investigations. United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison was joined in the announcement by Angie Salazar, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations.
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Colin Clemente Martin is from Center Line, Michigan. Department of Justice announced the decision last week on Thursday, January 18.