Clinton-Backed Haiti Pastor Indicted on Child Sex Charges

A former pastor and tattoo artist living in Pittsburgh who had moved to Haiti to teach job skills to residents has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of engaging in sex with a minor in Haiti over a three-year span.

Corrigan Clay, 43, who had been living on Robinson Street in Oakland, was arrested last week by federal agents and was due in court in Pittsburgh Tuesday for a detention hearing, but the case has been pushed back until Monday at the request of his lawyer.

He had been indicted under seal on March 9 on one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

Agents arrested him the next day and prosecutors unsealed the case. 

Mr. Clay is accused of sexually abusing a child from January 2014 until December of 2017, according to the indictment, which provides no other details.

The case is being prosecuted by the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department.

A prosecutor in that office refused to answer any questions Tuesday and no one from public affairs responded to messages. Mr. Clay’s lawyer didn’t either. 

 https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/03/14/clinton-associate-indicted-on-child-sex-charges/

 https://ayibopost.com/james-corrigan-clay-an-american-pastor-sexually-abused-a-child-he-adopted-in-haiti/https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-pastor-corrigan-clay-who-adopted-haitian-orphans-charged-

 

Mr. Clay and his ex-wife, Shelley Jean Clay, co-founded The Apparent Project, a nonprofit ministry and artisan’s group originally set up to create art out of trash in Haiti with the stated goal of stimulating the Haitian economy and helping poor children in that country. The two had adopted Haitian orphans, according to various web postings. 

He apparently left the nonprofit group in 2013. It wasn’t clear Tuesday why he was in Pittsburgh or how long he’d been here. 

Shelley Jean Clay, who runs a market selling Haitian-made art in Florida, did not respond to a message. 

According to his website, Mr. Clay is an artist by training who ran a tattoo parlor in Haiti called Ayiti Ink & Image from 2009 until 2020. He said he originally trained as a painter with a degree from Seattle Pacific University.

The site also identifies him as a filmmaker who has focused on promoting projects in Haiti and helping orphans in that nation. 

In addition, Mr. Clay says on the site that he is a former pastor with a master’s degree in theology and the arts from Regent College in Vancouver.