Man known as 'Scorpio' who sexually exploited teen girls facing life sentence
A West Price Hill man who sexually exploited two teen runaways faces up to life in prison after being found guilty Tuesday of multiple federal charges.
Kelly Richards, 43, who is known as "Scorpio" and has a tattoo of a scorpion on his face, was convicted in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati of charges including sex trafficking of minors and sexually exploiting children. A jury was selected and testimony began April 23.
The two girls Richards trafficked were 14 and 15 years old and fled from a group home in Dayton. One of the girls told investigators that she contacted Richards through Facebook and asked him to pick them up from the group home.
On Feb. 28, 2023, according to court documents, he drove them to his Sunset Avenue apartment. According to prosecutors, he gave the girls cocaine before sexually assaulting them.
The next day, Richards told the 14-year-old that she needed to have sex with his "friend" for money, court documents say. After she did, Richards took the money she had been paid.
Over the next several days, Richards enticed the girls into having sex with multiple men who then paid Richards.
He also took explicit photos of the girls with his iPhone, which he used to create online ads for prostitution.
According to court documents, one girl "was prostituted up to four times per day" in hotels and homes.
The FBI began investigating in mid-March 2023, according to the documents, after officials with Hamilton County Juvenile Court notified the agency that the girls had been identified as possible sex trafficking victims.
Richards, who has previous felony convictions, also was found guilty of illegally possessing a gun.
A sentencing date has not been set.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati man called 'Scorpio' found guilty of sex trafficking teens
