Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DARRYL MORRIS, also known as “King Sincere," 32, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to one count of sex trafficking of a minor.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in November 2014, MORRIS met a 15-year-old girl who was working in prostitution in New York. Shortly thereafter, MORRIS brought the minor victim to his home in Bridgeport and arranged to have advertisements of her prostitution services posted on Backpage.com. The minor victim then began to see prostitution customers at MORRIS’s residence and gave the money she received to MORRIS. MORRIS also drove the minor victim to other locations in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., when she saw prostitution customers.
The minor victim worked as a prostitute for MORRIS from November 2014 to April 2015, and from November 2015 to May 2016, seeing approximately 10 customers per day.
MORRIS engaged in sexual activity with the minor victim, and began beating her a few weeks after she arrived in Bridgeport.
On May 2, 2016, investigators found the minor victim at a hotel in East Hartford after she contacted her mother who then called police. MORRIS had recently beaten the minor victim, who had visible scars and signs of physical abuse.
MORRIS has been detained since his arrest on Aug. 16, 2016.
Judge Meyer scheduled sentencing for September 8, 2017, at which time MORRIS faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a maximum term of life imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. He also has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $100,000, which is a conservative estimate of how much money the minor victim earned in prostitution when she was with MORRIS.
This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bridgeport Police Department, East Hartford Police Department, Stratford Police Department and New York Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarala V. Nagala.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
