Child Sex Trafficker Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison
EUGENE, Ore. – On Tuesday, November 15, 2016, U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane sentenced Darryl Tyrone Norwood Jr., 29, of Lane County, Oregon, to 160 months in prison for sex trafficking of a minor. Following his prison sentence, Norwood will be on lifetime supervised release.
In February of 2014, the FBI and the Eugene Police Department (EPD) were investigating the solicitation of commercial sexual activity on the website Backpage.com, and identified a sixteen-year-old minor female. On February 27, 2014, an undercover EPD detective posed as a customer, contacted the minor female and purported to arrange for commercial sex at a Eugene hotel. The minor female victim was driven to the hotel by Wayne Ratliff. Both were detained and interviewed by police. Law enforcement learned that the victim had been trafficked by Norwood on and off for a period of four months, and that Ratliff had at times assisted. Both Norwood and Ratliff were arrested and charged in federal court with sex trafficking of a minor. Ratliff was convicted in July 2016 and sentenced to 63 months in prison.
While trafficking the minor female victim, Norwood rented hotel rooms for her to stay and use for commercial sex acts, told her where to post an online solicitation, drove her to locations to engage in sexual activity and bought her a phone. The victim gave all of the proceeds from the sexual encounters to Norwood who knew that she was sixteen years old for most of the time he was trafficking her. Law enforcement also learned that Norwood trafficked several other women, including a female who was convicted in state court for assault.
Norwood engaged in a pattern of threats, manipulation, and controlling behavior toward the women he trafficked. He has prior convictions in Oregon for Assault in the Second Degree in 2007, and Assault in the Fourth Degree in 2014.
“Sex traffickers use violence, threats and power to manipulate and take advantage of vulnerable victims,” said Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. “Stopping sex trafficking throughout Oregon is a top priority for our office. We will continue to work closely with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to find, convict and punish those responsible for these horrible and degrading crimes. Furthermore, we will continue to do everything possible to prevent these and similar crimes through outreach and education.”
