Anchorage Man Sentenced to Over 23 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking and Drug Offenses

 

ANCHORAGE – An Anchorage man was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred to 285 months in federal prison followed by 20 years of supervised release for sex trafficking and drug offenses.

Davon Smith, 29, was found guilty by a federal jury in August this year on three counts of sex trafficking and one count of drug distribution. The trial lasted six days and the jury reached its verdicts after one day of deliberation.

According to court documents, Smith, was charged with one count of sex trafficking a minor, one count of benefitting from a sex trafficking enterprise, one count of sex trafficking an adult by force, fraud or coercion and one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin. According to evidence presented at trial, he trafficked an adult and a runaway juvenile victim in early 2019. Smith had a previous felony drug conviction and was on federal supervised release at the time he committed the offenses. His total sentence represented 22 years for substantive offenses plus 21 months for committing those offenses while on supervised release.

“It is impossible to overstate the trauma done by trafficking minors and other vulnerable persons,” said U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. “And trafficking deadly opioids unleashes other terrible harms. By working so hard to see that justice was done in this case, the FBI, Anchorage Police Department, and the prosecutors of the U.S. Attorney’s Office have made Alaska safer.” 

“Through manipulation and abuse, the defendant coerced adults and minors to perform commercial sex acts for his own financial gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Antony Jung of the FBI Anchorage Field Office.  “With a victim-centered approach, the FBI and our partners on the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, will continue investigating and holding accountable those who commit such reprehensible crimes.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and the Anchorage Police Department investigated the case. The task force marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children through sex trafficking, as well as to identify and recover victims.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Ivers and Adam Alexander prosecuted the case.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood combines federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.