DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A Daytona Beach man was sentenced on Thursday to over 27 years in prison for sex trafficking and conspiracy charges, officials announced on Tuesday.
Delon Richard Smith, 47, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion and one count of conspiracy to commit the same crime.
Smith was also ordered to pay $4,800 in restitution to the two victims he exploited.
According to court documents, Smith recruited the two victims separately in 2021 and 2022 by offering narcotics and money-making opportunities. He posted online ads featuring one victim’s photo and transported them to meet commercial sex buyers in the Daytona Beach area.
[WATCH: Taser used on man accused of attempted car theft at Daytona Beach dealership]
Prosecutors said Smith kept all the money from the commercial sex acts and regularly forced the victims to continue working through severe physical abuse. He punched and choked the victims while threatening them with his Bloods gang affiliation. On one occasion, he fired a gun and held the hot barrel to a victim’s face as punishment for insufficient earnings. In another incident, Smith hit a victim in the head with a gun butt and dragged her by her hair into his car after she left a hotel room without permission.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking is asked to report to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For more information about human trafficking, click here.