Des Moines, IA- A Manchester, Iowa man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for sex trafficking.
33-year-old Darrius Redd of Manchester was sentenced in federal court Wednesday, March 23rd, 2022, 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.
A jury unanimously convicted Redd of those crimes in September 2021.
According to court documents, Redd used deceptive and coercive tactics as well as a 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.
