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(Des Moines, IA) -- A northeast Iowa man's been sentenced to 45-years in prison for sex trafficking. A jury convicted 33-year-old Darrius Redd of Manchester in 2021. Evidence at trial showed Redd used deceptive and coercive tactics, and forced a victim to engage in sex acts in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Clive and other cities. Evidence also showed Redd supplied the victim with drugs, and trafficked or tried to traffic multiple women, by using drugs and blackmailing them. Investigators say Redd also abducted women and restrained them against their will.
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.
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.
The U-S Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa issued the following statement:
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.