CINCINNATI — A Cincinnati man convicted in federal court of sexually exploiting and trafficking 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 face a lifetime of supervised release if he ever gets out of prison, a press release from Parker's office said.
Richards was found guilty in April after a six-day trial; he'd faced five different counts and was convicted on all.
Parker said Richards deserves to spend the next 40 days in prison.
"Richards drugged, raped, abused, photographed and sold two teenage girls," said Parker in a press release.
Parker said the minors were held for days in a one-bedroom apartment in Cincinnati while they were abused physically and sexually by Richards and other men. Richards also had multiple guns in the home that he was not allowed to possess, Parker said.
During trial, testimony revealed investigators became aware of Richards in Marco of 2023, after two juveniles were screened as potential victims of sex trafficking. According to Parker's office, Richards picked up the two juveniles after they'd fled from 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 juveniles to perform sex acts with other men in exchange for money Richards kept; Parker's office says Richards went so far as to create prostitution ads online that featured explicit images of the victims.
Richards held the two victims in his apartment for multiple days. According to court documents, one of the minors was prostituted up to four times per day in various hotels and homes.
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