After almost two years of litigation, Delaware County successfully charged, convicted, and now sentenced Matthew Sipps for Patronizing a Victim of Sexual Servitude (F2), concealing the whereabouts of a child (F3), and corruption of minors (M1). Patronizing a Victim of Sexual Servitude falls under the Commonwealth’s comprehensive human trafficking statute that was enacted in 2014. Sipps was sentenced to 5 years of probation for being convicted of concealing the whereabouts of a child and for the corruption of minors. As for patronizing a victim of sexual servitude, Sipps was sentenced to 1 to 5 years in prison. According to YC News, this is the first successful sentencing in Delaware County under Pennsylvania’s human trafficking legislation for engaging in a sex act with a victim while knowing that the act was the result of that individual being a victim of human trafficking.
Additionally, Raymond Justis, who also went by the name “Jordan”, was found to have been involved in selling the victims associated with this case. Justis was indicted on federal charges of sex trafficking a minor in 2015. He was then sentenced to 168 months in prison, five years of probation, with $1,300 of restitution. His case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Morgan.
The CSE Institute would like to congratulate the Aston Police Department, the Delaware County District Attorney’s office, including Assistant District Attorney Alan Borowsky, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Morgan for being able to work with several parties to not only criminalize the buyer of sex, but the seller as well. Collaboration across law enforcement agencies and dedication to justice helps provide hope for survivors and victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.