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RIVERTON — A man who police say provided drugs to a teen girl in exchange for sexual acts and also sexually assaulted her against her will after giving her drugs has been arrested by Riverton police.
And investigators say there could be more victims.
Calan Nelson Clifford, 29, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Thursday for investigation of three counts of human trafficking of a child, two counts of rape of a child, sodomy on a child, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, three counts of enticing a minor and three counts of dealing in harmful materials to a minor.
The investigation began on March 23 when Clifford drugged and then sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl who afterward had to be treated at a local hospital, according to a police booking affidavit.
Police interviewed the girl on Monday who told them she was first contacted by a man at random on Snapchat around the beginning of the year, the affidavit states. The man was later identified as Clifford.
Clifford told the girl he was 20, told her he could "get her stuff" if she hung out with him, and told the girl he wanted to "do stuff" with her, which the girl interpreted as sex, according to the affidavit.
The first time the girl met Clifford in person was about the end of January when he picked her up from her school, drove to a nearby parking lot and engaged in a sexual act in exchange for marijuana and nicotine, the affidavit states.
In mid-February, Clifford picked up the girl as she was walking to school, took her to his house and sexually assaulted her, according to the affidavit.
A third similar incident happened on March 23 when Clifford picked up the girl from her school during lunchtime, took her to a parking lot and gave her gamma-hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB, which is sometimes referred to as the "date rape drug," the affidavit states.
"(The girl) said she started to feel 'fuzzy.' (She) said she started to lose consciousness," according to the affidavit.
While the girl "was in and out of consciousness for several hours," she was sexually assaulted again, police stated. The girl was found by her mother, who had tracked her phone, with Clifford inside of his truck. She immediately took the girl to a local hospital.
Police stated in their affidavit that Clifford is a suspect in a similar case involving a second teen girl.
"Multiple video surveillance has been located which corroborates the victim's interview. Evidence of sex trafficking, and other sexual acts with minors has been located and is currently being extracted forensically," police stated in the affidavit while requesting he be held in jail pending the filing of formal criminal charges. "Calan being released on a bail would put him back into the public where he can continue to groom and hurt minor girls sexually and with drugs."
