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A 34-year-old Macomb County man was sentenced this week in Detroit federal court to 40 years in prison for sexually exploiting young girls by convincing them to engage in sexual acts for videos and photographs. The known victims ranged in age from 9 to 17.
Colin Clemente Martin of Center Line pleaded guilty in October 2022. He victimized at least eight minors, authorities said.
Authorities charged that Martin, in 2014 and 2016 to 2017, posed as a female talent scout on Skype and a social media service called Musical.ly. After gaining his young victim's trust, he forced them to engage in "sexual and other horrific acts" to create videos and images for his own pleasure and gratification.
If the victims tried to stop, Martin threatened to share the videos and images with their friends, authorities said in a press release.
Victims eventually reported the crimes to authorities in Illinois, Ohio, and Toronto. That led to the involvement of Michigan State Police’s involvement in 2019, and to Homeland Security Investigations’ execution of a search warrant at Martin’s home in July 2020, authorities said.
A sentencing memorandum by federal prosecutors stated:
Colin Martin’s victims pleaded with him: “Help me.” “Please, I thought you were my friend.” “Please, I will do anything, please, I’m begging you.” But Martin ignored their pleas. Children cried and begged while taking off their clothes. They sobbed while committing sex acts. Through threats and intimidation, Martin repeatedly forced them to engage in sex acts, sometimes with siblings or dogs, despite their tears, protests, and statements that they would kill themselves.
None of those pleas deterred Martin because he is a sadist. Their fear, their pain, their pleas for mercy only excited him further. Using the anonymity of the internet, Martin terrorized and degraded numerous children for his pleasure and enjoyment
In one case, in late April 2017, a nine-year-old girl from Canada learned from friends that a talent scout on the popular cell phone application Musical.ly could help young girls become famous. The scout was known as “Jazzy Martinez” with the username @jazzymarr, the sentencing memorandum said.
Jazzy’s profile picture depicted a white female with brown hair who appeared to be 14-16 years old, and the page read: “I’m a talent agent and model. I make girls like you famous! Message me if you want to get crowned."
Martin then convinced her to take videos with her phone of her and her 12-year-old sister.
“The lengths to which individuals like Martin will go to exploit and traumatize children is truly reprehensible," said U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison in a statement. "The conduct in this case is horrific." Hopefully, this sentence sends a clear message
