close
close

Man sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexual exploitation and trafficking of minors

Man sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexual exploitation and trafficking of minors

CINCINNATI – A Cincinnati man convicted in federal court of sexual exploitation and trafficking of minors will spend 40 years in prison, according to Kenneth L. Parker, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.

Kelly Richards, 43, will also serve life on supervised release if he ever gets out of prison, according to a news release from Parker’s office.

Richards was found guilty in April after a six-day trial; he had faced five different charges and was convicted of all of them.

Parker said Richards deserves to spend the next 40 days in jail.

“Richards drugged, raped, abused, photographed and sold two teenage girls,” Parker said in a news release.

Parker said the minors were held for days in a one-bedroom apartment in Cincinnati while they were physically and sexually abused by Richards and other men. Richards also had several guns in the home that he was not allowed to possess, Parker said.

During the trial, testimony revealed that investigators became aware of Richards in 2023 Marco after two youths were screened as potential sex trafficking victims. According to Parker’s office, Richards picked up the two youths after they fled a group home in Dayton.

He then kept them in his one-bedroom apartment in Cincinnati, where he gave them cocaine before assaulting them, Parker’s office said.

Richards also forced the two youths to perform sex acts with other men in exchange for money that Richards kept; Parker’s office says Richards has gone so far as to create online prostitution advertisements featuring explicit images of the victims.

Richards held the two victims in his apartment for several days. According to court documents, one of the minors was prostituted up to four times a day at various hotels and homes.

Watch live:

Replay: WCPO 9 News at 12 p.m