Update: Counter-Strike Co-Creator Jess Cliffe Officially Charged With Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor
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by Imran Khan on February 05, 2018 at 07:50 PM
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Update: Charges have been filed against Cliffe, along with a release of the statement of probable cause.
Warning: The details of this arrest feature sexual exploitation of a minor. Do not proceed further if you are sensitive to such details.
Cliffe is accused of multiple instances of sexual contact with a minor and videotaping the final instance without her knowledge. At the time of the incidents, the juvenile victim was 16 years-old and initially referred to Seattle police by Child Protective Services because of "reports of CSEC [Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children] activities."
The minor arranged to meet Cliffe through a dating site with the expressed purpose of exchanging sexual relations for money. Police traced back information from Cliffe's ISP and the dating website to find Cliffe, who denied knowing the victim, but did admit to similar arrangements. After confronting Cliffe with the alleged chat logs, though he denied them, police felt that he corroborated enough evidence to bring charges.
Cliffe's next hearing is scheduled for February 25 and has posted the court-set $150,000 bail. There is no update from Valve after the previous comment where the company stated they have suspended Cliffe until they know more.
The original story is as follows.
Counter-Strike co-creator and Valve game designer Jess Cliffe has been booked for sex exploitation of a child, Seattle local news KIRO 7 reports.
Police have not commented yet, but KIRO 7 reports Cliffe has not been charged yet. The arrest occurred at 1:17 AM this morning at the Seattle Southwest precinct police department.
Cliffe has been an employee of Valve since 2003 after creating Half-Life mod Counter-Strike in 1999 alongside co-creator Minh Le. Valve hired Cliffe and obtained the rights to the game, which has become one of if not the most popular multiplayer shooter in the world in the fifteen years since.
"We are still learning details of what actually happened," Valve's Doug Lombardi told us. "Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such we have suspended his employment until we know more."
.[Source: KIRO 7 News]
Prosecutors: Counter-Strike co-creator Jess Cliffe paid teen for sex
By: KIRO 7 News Staff
Updated: Feb 2, 2018 - 7:15 PM
Prosecutors say Jess Cliffe, the co-creator of the video game Counter-Strike who was arrested for sexual exploitation of a child, paid a minor to have sex with him in 2017 and recorded her against her will.
Prosecutors: Counter-Strike co-creator Jess Cliffe paid teen for sex
Cliffe, who was placed on leave from Valve Corporation where he worked as a designer, allegedly met a girl on SeekingArrangement.com, a website that “delivers a new way for relationships to form and grow,” according to the site. “Sugar Babies and Sugar Daddies or Mommas both get what they want, when they want it.”
The girl, now 16, told investigators she communicated with Cliffe via text message and another message platform such as Snapchat. The case started last May when the King County Sheriff’s Office received a Child Protective Services referral.
The teen told investigators that Cliffe would pick her up and drop her off at an intersection near her Seattle home.
She “reported meeting with Jess A. Cliffe to have sex for money at least three separate times, and that each time she was paid $300 for one hour,” according to a probable cause document. “She further reported that on the last occasion while engaged in sex acts with Jess A. Cliffe at his home, he attempted to and successfully video recorded portions of their session against her consent.”
Teen’s interview with detectives
The teen explained to detectives the Cliffe made a reference to trying out his new phone camera, but she was horrified by the idea and said no. When she realized he was recording, she said nothing out of fear, the teen told investigators.
On the way home, she asked Cliffe not to post the video and he agreed, according to court documents.
Cliffe allegedly told the teen that their arrangement through SeekingArrangement.com “was technically legal as he was paying her for her time,” according to the investigation document.
“At this point, (the teen) wanted to point out that it was illegal to be in possession of child pornography (in reference to the video he had just taken), but decided against it as to not upset him in addition to the fact that [she] could not be certain that he was aware of her true age of 16 years.”
Detectives served a search warrant to SeekingArrangement.com for Cliffe’s information. When the teen was giving his photo in a lineup, she said she was 80 percent certain he was the man who paid her to have sex with him at his West Seattle home.
Cliffe met with detectives late Wednesday at the Southwest Precinct. He admitted picking up a date and engaging in sex acts in which he paid her for her time, police said. He was arrested there and booked into the King County Jail at 1:17 a.m. the following morning.
Attorney: Cliffe ‘was just as flabbergasted as anyone’
Cliffe’s attorney Zachary C. Wagnild said he’s completely cooperating with the investigation, and noted that he drove himself to the police precinct.
There were no discussions about her age, and to Cliffe’s knowledge the video did not circulate anywhere, the attorney said.
Cliffe, who is on leave from his job in Bellevue, graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Management Science. As an amateur photographer, he also took pictures for his hobby site VintageSeattle.org, which continued until 2012. That site posted high-resolution photos of old Seattle, and Cliffe posted modern day photos with his Canon EOS 200D Digital Rebel Xti.
“We are still learning details of what actually happened,” Valve Corporation spokesman Doug Lombardi said Thursday evening in an e-mail. “Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such we have suspended his employment until we know more.” [/spoiler]
So apparently an underaged girl was selling her sexual services on a site meant for people over 18, pretending to be an adult, got paid for her service, and is now playing the victim.
Welp, sucks for Cliffe. His life is fucking ruined even if he's declared innocent. Will probably commit sudoku. Valve won't take him back.
Young whores gonna whore.
