Man Sentenced to Serve 15 Years in Federal Prison for Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of a Child

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that Ralph Darnell Redd was sentenced yesterday by United States District Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan to serve 15 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and mandatory registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. A federal jury found Redd guilty on July 11, 2011 following a four-day jury trial. The jury returned verdicts convicting Redd on three counts of the indictment charging him with sex trafficking of children, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1591(a); one count of sexual exploitation of a child, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251; and one count of distribution of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2).

According to evidence presented at trial, Redd set up a website and posted online ads on the Internet offering commercial sex acts with a child, knowing that she was a minor.

This case arises from an investigation by the Oceanside Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

This case is also being brought as part of the FBI’s Innocent Images National Initiative (IINI), a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. For more information about IINI, please visit www.fbi.gov.