DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 47-year-old Daytona Beach man has been sentenced to more than 27 years in federal prison for using violence, threats, and coercion to force two women into commercial sex acts.
Delon Richard Smith was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to 327 months in prison after pleading guilty in October 2025 to two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion and one count of conspiracy to commit the same. He was also ordered to pay $4,800 in restitution to the two victims.
According to court documents, Smith recruited the victims separately in 2021 and 2022, offering them narcotics and the promise of making money. Prosecutors said he then posted online advertisements featuring one victim’s photo and transported both women to various locations in the Daytona Beach area to meet commercial sex buyers. The Daytona Beach Police Special Investigations Unit (SIU) initiated the investigation at the 700 block of North Segrave Street in Dayton Beach. They then contacted the FBI.
Smith kept all of the money earned from the commercial sex acts.
Authorities said he routinely used threats and severe physical violence to control the victims and force them to continue working for him. Court records detail repeated beatings, including punching and choking, while Smith invoked alleged gang ties to intimidate the women.
In one incident, Smith discharged a firearm and pressed the hot barrel against a victim’s face as punishment for not bringing in enough money. In another, after a victim left a hotel room without his permission, he struck her in the head with the butt of a gun and dragged her by the hair into his car.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division called the crimes “abhorrent acts of violence” and said commercial sex trafficking relies on “the systematic dehumanization of its victims.”
U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida said the case was brought to justice through the victims’ courage and the work of federal and local law enforcement partners.
The FBI Jacksonville Field Office led the investigation with assistance from the Daytona Police Department.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Leah Branch of the Justice Department’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Megan Testerman and Kaley Austin-Aronson.
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