A man has been sentenced to more than 28 years in state prison for sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old woman along the Figueroa Corridor, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Derran Adkins, now 28, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life as a result of his guilty plea last week to one felony count each of human trafficking of a minor for a commercial sex act and human trafficking of an adult, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Adkins admitted he inflicted great bodily injury on both victims, who were assaulted if they failed to tried to leave or refused to follow his instructions, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Adkins met the 17-year-old girl through social media and she was forced into commercial sex trafficking in November 2024, with the defendant mutilating her hand on one occasion, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The 19-year-old woman worked for Adkins as a commercial sex worker between April 2024 and January 2025, with authorities alleging that he punched the woman in the face, burned her with a heated metal spoon or whipped her with a hanger in some instances.
Earnings that the two made from commercial sex work went entirely to the defendant, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Adkins was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department in January 2025 and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
“A violent sex trafficker and modern-day enslaver has been taken off the streets as a result of the tireless work of our prosecutors and the Los Angeles Police Department,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement announcing the plea and prison sentence.
“The depravity of sex traffickers who prey on the most vulnerable in our community, including children, knows no bounds. This case underscores that there will be dire consequences for sex traffickers under my watch, especially traffickers who brutally torment their vulnerable young victims.”