Clayton County man found guilty of selling teen girl for sex in human trafficking case

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County man has been convicted of selling a teen girl for sex in 2018, the fourth and last defendant in a trafficking case in which the Georgia Attorney General's Office Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit won convictions against all four traffickers.

The AG's Office on Tuesday announced the guilty verdict for 31-year-old Theodore Brown, Jr. He was convicted of arranging with another defendant to sell a 15-year-old girl for sex out of hotels in Clayton County in 2018.

The other defendant convicted in the selling arrangement, Christopher Weldon, was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison. Brown's sentencing is set for March 29.

Two buyers, Daniel Horne and Gregory Benoit, have also been convicted and given multi-year prison sentences.

RELATED: Clayton County man convicted of buying teen for sex in multi-defendant human trafficking case

“Theodore Browne, Jr. sold a young girl for sex, and now he is facing the consequences of his illegal actions,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement. 

According to a release by the AG's Office, the newly-formed Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit re-opened the case in 2019 after it had been closed by local authorities.

“This outcome follows years of work by our Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit as we continued to pour over every lead in our pursuit of justice for this victim,” Carr said. “Let this serve as a lesson for those who seek to abuse and exploit Georgia's children – you will be identified, vigorously pursued and aggressively prosecuted.”

Carr's office says the Human Trafficking Prosecution unit currently has 52 defendants under indictment for sex or labor trafficking, and won six new convictions in 2022. The unit's efforts have helped in the rescue and assistance of 116 trafficking victims, according to the AG's Office.