Aston man convicted for sex with teen
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A 41-year-old Aston man was convicted Friday on charges of patronizing a victim of sexual servitude, concealment of whereabouts of a child and corruption of minors for a series of sexual encounters with a 16-year-old girl at a motel and later at his home on the 100 block of Sweigart Lane.
Matthew J. Sipps was arrested in December following a 20-month investigation by Aston and county authorities into allegations that he knowingly held an underage trafficking victim at his home for about a month while having sex with her.
The investigation began in April 23, 2015, when law enforcement in Rhode Island requested assistance in locating the girl. The victim had called her mother about 1 a.m. that morning, asking to be picked up at the Sweigart Lane address. Aston police responded to the home and brought the teen to headquarters, where she described the ordeal that brought her to Aston.
The victim told authorities that she learned she could make money working as an escort on backpage.com and answered an ad placed by an individual named “Jordan” from New Jersey. “Jordan,” later identified as Raymond Justis, took the girl to a hotel for three days, where she had intercourse with him several times.
“After three days, Jordan told (the victim) it was time for her to go to work,” according to the affidavit.
Justis placed an ad on backpage.com for “18-yearold Italian cutie Maria, on a Spring break, looking to go wild” under the “escorts” category for Philadelphia. He was also later charged with one count of sex trafficking by federal indictment. Justis pled guilty in March 2016 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Sipps responded to the ad March 23, 2015, and met with the teen and Justis at a motel in New Jersey on four occasions, according to the affidavit. Sipps and the girl engaged in sex on two of those encounters, according to the girl.
The fourth and final time Sipps came to the motel, the girl said she told him she was a 16-year-old runaway from Rhode Island. Sipps told the victim she “shouldn’t be in the environment she was in,” and wanted to take her to his home, according to the affidavit.
Sipps took the girl to the home he shared with his mother and adult brothers. The teen stayed with Sipps for about a month and had sex several times during that period, according to the affidavit.
But the victim told authorities she was isolated from the other people in the house and that Sipps would not allow her to leave, the affidavit states. When Sipps eventually provided the girl with a cell phone, she used it to call her mother and escape the situation.
Sipps, represented by defense attorney Scott Godshall, was convicted on all three counts following a jury trial this week before Court of Common Pleas Judge James Nilon. President Judge Kevin F. Kelly presided over the case Friday.
Assistant District Attorney Alan Borowsky asked Kelly to revoke bail after the verdict was delivered. Kelly instead increased bail to 10 percent of $200,000 with electronic home monitoring. Kelly also ordered a presentence investigation and psychosexual evaluation pending sentencing, set for Nov. 13.