School employee kidnapped and ‘violently’ raped woman after offering a ride, feds say

In the summer of 2021, a Texas school district administrator offered to drive a woman to her friend’s home, according to federal prosecutors who said he then “violently” raped her.

“Jane Doe” was waiting at an El Paso bus stop when she accepted Jeffrey Steven Clay’s offer and gave him $10 for gas on Aug. 4, 2021, prosecutors said.

However, Clay drove off with her to his home in Anthony, New Mexico, about a 20-mile drive northwest from El Paso, and handcuffed her, according to prosecutors.

The kidnapping occurred while Clay was employed as the El Paso Independent School District’s executive director of analytics, strategy, and assessment and public education information management system, prosecutors said.

Inside Clay’s house, he “violently” raped the woman, telling her “that she deserved it,” according to prosecutors.

Following the rape, the woman escaped Clay by jumping out of his car at a red light as he was driving her back to El Paso, prosecutors said.

In May 2023, a jury found Clay of one count each of kidnapping and transportation for illegal sexual activity, according to New Mexico federal court records.

Now, Clay, who’s 51, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Mexico announced in an April 5 news release.

Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors described Clay in court filings as “a man who will inflict unimaginable pain on whomever he pleases to satisfy his dark and deviant sexual desires, a man who does not take no for an answer, a man who teaches his victims a lesson if they dare to challenge him…”

Brock Benjamin, Clay’s criminal defense attorney who’s based in El Paso, told McClatchy News that Clay has filed a notice of appeal since his sentencing.

“We’re contesting several decisions of the district court that improperly admitted evidence that was not credible and improperly attacked his credibility, while excluding evidence that supported his defense,” Clay said in an emailed statement on April 5.

At Clay’s trial and sentencing hearing, another woman testified about how Clay repeatedly raped her when she was underage, as well as when she was an adult, “including while she was seven months pregnant,” prosecutors said.

Following the rape of “Jane Doe” and her eventual escape from Clay in August 2021, she shared her Google timeline history and provided details of Clay’s home to the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, according to the attorney’s office. Then investigators secured a search warrant, according to the attorney’s office.

During the execution of the search warrant at Clay’s house, authorities “found evidence supporting Jane Doe’s description of events,” prosecutors said.

Clay wasn’t arrested until Nov. 10, 2022, when he was fired from his position at the El Paso Independent School District, KFOX-TV reported.

McClatchy News contacted the school district for comment on April 5 and didn’t receive an immediate response.

At sentencing, Clay was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and a $5,000 special assessment fee in relation to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which became a law in 2015, according to prosecutors.

A hearing will be held in May to determine a restitution amount Clay will owe Jane Doe, prosecutors said.

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