Cincinnati man who was convicted at trial of sex trafficking, exploiting 2 teens sentenced to 40 years in prison

CINCINNATI - A Cincinnati man was sentenced in U.S. District Court here today to 480 months in prison and to a lifetime of supervised release for sex trafficking minors, sexually exploiting children and illegally possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.

Kelly Richards, 43, was found guilty on all five counts following a six-day jury trial in April before U.S. District Judge Jeffery P. Hopkins.

"Richards drugged, raped, abused, photographed and sold two teenage girls. He held them for days in a one-bedroom apartment with multiple firearms he was forbidden to own, wantonly mistreating them for his own physical, sordid desires, financial gain, and the pleasure of others. He deserves to spend the next 40 years in prison," said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker.

Richards is also known as "Scorpio" and has a tattoo of a scorpion on the left side of his face.

According to court documents and trial testimony, investigators were alerted in March 2023 that two juveniles had been screened as potential sex trafficking victims.

Richards picked up the two juveniles after they fled a group home in Dayton. Richards then drove them to his one-bedroom apartment in Cincinnati. At the apartment, Richards provided the minors with cocaine before sexually assaulting them.

Richards forced the juveniles to have sex with other men for money that was paid to Richards. The defendant created prostitution advertisements online with explicit pictures of the minor victims and used physical violence against them. Richards held the juveniles in his apartment for multiple days. Court documents detail that one victim was prostituted up to four times per day in hotels and homes.

Federal agents arrested Richards on May 16, 2023.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and other members of the FBI's Anti-Trafficking Task Force announced the sentence imposed today. Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle J. Healey and Megan Gaffney Painter are representing the United States in this case.

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