Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Timothy J.
Corrigan today sentenced Richard Anthony Moffett (31, Jacksonville) to 25 years
in federal prison for using force, fraud, and coercion to cause multiple
victims to engage in prostitution. The court will make a determination as to
the amount of restitution Moffett owes to each of his five victims at a later
date. Moffett had pleaded guilty on June 7, 2019.
According to court documents and information presented at
the sentencing hearing, in the middle of 2016, Moffett relocated from Ohio to
Florida. He resided in various hotels in Jacksonville, where he met his first
two victims, K.W. and K.D. Moffett began
forcing K.W. to engage in prostitution, keeping all of her money, supplying her
with drugs, and regularly beating her. Sometime in December 2016, Moffett began
selling heroin to D.D., a third victim. D.D. began working for Moffett,
providing commercial sex to others, and gave all of the money she made to
Moffett. Moffett exploited D.D.’s heroin addiction to coerce her into engaging
in commercial sex acts. A few months later, Moffett came to believe that D.D.
had stolen $50 from him. Moffett pointed a pistol at D.D., who attempted to
flee from the hotel room. K.W., who was present at the time, grabbed D.D. by
the hair, and Moffett twice stomped D.D. on the head. D.D. ultimately escaped.
Around February 2017, Moffett met his fourth victim, S.B.,
when she began purchasing heroin from him. Moffett invited S.B. and K.D. to
travel with him to Ohio, purportedly to meet his two newly-born children. Once
in Ohio, Moffett informed S.B. and K.D. that they would need to engage in
prostitution in order to make enough money to return to Florida. S.B. and K.D.,
lacking financial and transportation resources, did so. In March 2017, Moffett
transported S.B. and K.D. back to Florida. After returning to Florida, K.D.
told Moffett, as a ruse, that she had a commercial sex “date” coming to the
hotel, and Moffett left the hotel. K.D. then phoned a friend who came to pick
her up. Moffett attempted to coerce K.D. to return to him by calling her
multiple times and leaving threatening messages.
Meanwhile, Moffett continued to force K.W. and S.B. to
engage in commercial sex acts out of various hotels in Jacksonville. In April
2017, Moffett coerced a fifth victim, S.A., into working for him. S.A. had
previously purchased heroin from Moffett and contacted him after she became
homeless. Moffett took S.A. in, and, the next day, informed her she would need
to engage in prostitution to pay her way. During the time that K.W., S.B., and
S.A. were working under Moffett’s control, Moffett would withhold heroin from
them so that they would get “dope sick” as a means of coercing them to engage
in commercial sex “dates” at his direction. When S.B. informed Moffett that she
wanted to leave, Moffett gave her a bill totaling approximately $3,000 that he
claimed S.B. needed to pay him for drugs, food, and shelter, before she could
leave. Moffett then forced the S.B. to have sex with him and locked her in a
bathroom for an entire day as punishment. Ultimately, S.B. and S.A. were able
to escape from Moffett when S.A. was arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s
Office for a prostitution offense. S.A., who was so terrified of Moffett that
she attempted to hide underneath the floor mat of the JSO patrol vehicle in
which she was detained, informed detectives that Moffett was her “pimp.” During
this time, S.B. was able to escape. Moffett continued to exploit K.W. until he
was arrested by JSO in November 2017.
This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s
Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the
State Attorney’s Office, Fourth Judicial Circuit. It was prosecuted by
Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor and Special Assistant
United States Attorney Erin Wolfson.
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