The sentencing phase of a trial of a New York man convicted on child pornography charges was abruptly ended when the convict bit his own lip and then started spitting blood at one of his victims, court documents reveal.
According to the Associated Press, Clifford Wares was convicted of using a fake Facebook account to prey on at least two teenaged New Jersey girls. But early Monday as he was about to be sentenced, he began spitting blood at one of the girls, forcing U.S. marshals to tackle him and put a hood over his head to stop his spitting.
The convict was removed from the courtroom, causing a delay in the sentencing.
During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas said, “Mr. Wares, you, sir, are every parent’s worst nightmare come to life.”
Judge Salas eventually sentenced Wares to life in prison for his crimes.
The federal judge was also recently handed new evidence that Wares was anonymously sending threatening letters to the teens and their family from his prison cell. His threatening letters were deemed an obstruction of justice and ultimately led to an increase in his sentence.
An investigation found that in 2011 the now convicted man started communicating with a teenaged girl through Facebook using a fake account name. He eventually upped the ante by sending explicit photos to the girl and then got her telephone number. They talked for months before the girl finally agreed to meet him.
The teen agreed to have sexual contact with Wares, after which he began to threaten her if she stopped allowing him to have sex with her.
Investigators also found he was in communication with at least one other teen and was attempting the same scheme with her.
Authorities launched a manhunt for Wares in 2012 and eventually found him in a wooded area near his home. Police said he had on his person a roll of duct tape, handcuffs, a knife, and a list of names of children he hoped would become his next victims.
The first victim, who was 13 in 2011 when Wares began to groom her for sexual contact, said when she first met him, she was “vulnerable for positive attention.”
Wares was caught in part because he became upset that the girl would not engage in sex with animals for his viewing pleasure. As a result of her refusal, he began to humiliate her through social media and contacted her friends to inform them of what she was doing with him.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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