Source: United States Department of Justice News
DES MOINES, IA – On March 23, 2022, Darrius Decnan Redd, age 33, of Manchester, was sentenced in federal court to 45 years in prison for sex trafficking an adult victim by force, fraud, and coercion; five years for facilitation of prostitution; and 40 years for distribution of a controlled substance to a person under the age of 21. The sentences are to run concurrently (i.e., at the same time). A jury unanimously convicted Redd of those crimes in September 2021.
According to evidence presented at the four and a half-day trial and court documents submitted for sentencing, Redd used deceptive and coercive tactics as well as physical force to compel a victim to engage in sex acts in exchange for money. Redd kept all the proceeds from the victim’s sex acts. Redd trafficked the victim in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Clive, and surrounding areas in March 2020. Redd also supplied the victim with a controlled substance and posted advertisements for paid sex acts with the victim and other women on an escort website.
Redd’s sex trafficking pursuits were not limited to one victim. Evidence at trial suggested Redd trafficked or attempted to traffic multiple women. Witnesses testified that Redd targeted vulnerable and broken women whom he could traffic and he had boasted about doing so for years. To recruit women for purposes of sex trafficking, Redd, among other things, plied the women with drugs, made video recordings of the women engaged in sex acts to use as blackmail, lied to the women about his intentions, and told the women that they owed him or others money.
At sentencing, United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger ruled that, during the commission of his crimes, Redd had raped two women. She found further Redd had physically restrained those women and he had abducted them against their will. She also noted Redd had failed to express any remorse for his actions and he had lied while testifying at trial.
United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This investigation was conducted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Clive Police Department, University of Iowa Police Department, Iowa City Police Department, Manchester Police Department, Iowa Department of Corrections, and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. The Des Moines Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation participated in trial presentation. Assistant United States Attorneys Amy L. Jennings and Kyle J. Essley, along with Former Assistant United States Attorney Virginia Bruner, prosecuted the case with the assistance of Victim Witness Specialist Charlotte Kovacs.
Human trafficking is a crime involving the exploitation of youth under the age of 18 for commercial sex; the exploitation of adults for commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion; and the exploitation of any individual for compelled labor. Human trafficking does not require the transportation of individuals across state lines, or that someone is physically restrained. Signs that a person is being trafficked can include working excessively long hours, unexplained gifts, physical injury, substance abuse issues, running away from home, isolation from others, or having a person in their life controlling them or monitoring them closely. Victims particularly susceptible to being trafficked include those with criminal histories, a history of physical or sexual abuse, uncertain legal status, and dependency on controlled substances. Individuals who purchase sex from minors or from those who are otherwise exploited for commercial sex are also subject to prosecution for sex trafficking under federal law, if they knew or were in reckless disregard of the fact that they were under the age of 18, or that force, fraud, or coercion was used.
Anyone who suspects human trafficking is occurring, be it a minor engaging in paid sex acts, or anyone being coerced into prostitution or labor, is urged to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.