By FRANCIS JOSEPH
This made international headlines. Originally charged with kidnapping one woman, a Trinidadian turned up in court in New York and admitted to kidnapping another six women.
Well, he faces a minimum of 15 years in a United States Jail.
That man is Chad Barclay, 33, a Trinidad national and a permanent resident of the United States.
According to the US Department of Justice, Barclay entered his guilty plea on September 2, following a federal investigation into a series of violent crimes against women between 2022 and 2023.
The Department said Barclay admitted that on September 13, 2022, he lured a woman to his residence under the pretext of engaging in commercial sex.
Once she arrived, prosecutors said he robbed and sexually assaulted her.
As part of his plea agreement, Barclay also admitted to kidnapping six other women during the period spanning 2022 and 2023.
Department’s Criminal Division
The case had previously resulted in a series of federal charges. In August 2023, Barclay was charged in a 20-count superseding indictment involving five victims.
Those charges included interstate prostitution, Hobbs Act robbery, kidnapping, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding.
A later indictment filed in May 2026 added a sex-trafficking charge involving one of the original victims, along with interstate prostitution, robbery, kidnapping and related offences involving two additional victims.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division described Barclay as having admitted to kidnapping, violently raping and robbing multiple women.
Duva added, “This prosecution demonstrates that we will always seek justice for survivors of trafficking and abuse to prevent more of these heinous crimes.”
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York, also described Barclay as a “dangerous predator,” saying he allegedly used force and intimidation to sexually assault one victim before admitting to additional conduct involving six other women.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said the joint investigation involving the FBI and the New York Police Department exposed Barclay’s conduct and brought the case before the justice system.
The investigation is being conducted by the FBI’s New York Field Office and the NYPD as part of the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.
Barclay now faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.
The final sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge, who will consider the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case is being prosecuted by attorneys from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
