Women felt ‘caged’ by NC couple in multi-state sex-trafficking scheme, FBI agent says
A Durham man will spend 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
D’Angelo Taborn, 31, and his girlfriend, Imani Franco, 30, of Durham, were arrested in Jacksonville on Aug. 12, 2022, as part of an FBI human trafficking sting, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Michael F. Easley, Jr.
After responding to online ads for commercial sex, an undercover officer met with one of the couple’s victims in a motel room, where the woman said Taborn and Franco had been trafficking her across North Carolina and Virginia, the criminal complaint states.
“[The victim] reported she was afraid of Taborn, as she had seen him be physically abusive towards Franco,” the complaint says. “In addition, [the victim] knew Taborn to carry a pistol with a mounted flashlight, laser, and an extended magazine.”
The pair forbade the victim from leaving her hotel room and would often deprive her of food and water, according to the complaint.
“[The victim] reported she had last eaten over 24 hours ago when Taborn and Franco provided her four left-over chicken wings they did not consume,” the complaint states.
Offered work as models
Investigators found messages on Taborn’s phone where he offered women money working as models or dancers, promising them almost $1,000 per day.
Upon picking up the women, Taborn and Franco would hold them hostage, threatening them with Taborn’s gun, according to the criminal complaint. Franco would take pictures for the online advertisements and Taborn would post them, arrange the encounters and set the prices.
It was unclear how long Taborn and Franco conducted the operation. According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a motel in Smyrna, Georgia, on Dec. 15, 2015, after a woman accused Taborn of threatening her.
“Police learned Taborn was staying at the hotel with five females and, according to [the victim], they were being forced to engage in commercial sex to earn money for Taborn’s legal fees,” the complaint states. “[The victim] reported they traveled state-to-state, including North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.”
Police found receipts and surveillance footage indicating the couple had trafficked women in Jacksonville, Charlotte, Durham and Danville, Virginia, the complaint states.
Franco pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion on April 25 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Sept. 23, court records show. Upon her release, she will be on parole for five years and may not own or use cameras or any devices that can connect to the internet without approval, according to a sentencing document.
“It is difficult to hear these victims literally felt ‘caged’ by these offenders,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina Robert M. DeWitt. “To be forced into sex trafficking, to have to ask for food, those are deplorable conditions for any human being to endure. The FBI and our local law enforcement partners will never stop working to combat human trafficking.”
Anyone with tips on human trafficking cases can text 233733 to provide information to the Human Trafficking Task Force operated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
