Sex Trafficker, Rapist Gets Life Sentence, DA Says

ATLANTA, GA — A 25-year-old man was given a life sentence in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking, according to a media release from the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. Derrick Manuel, of Atlanta, was found guilty of the crime, committed in September 2018.

Manuel was convicted of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, aggravated sodomy, terroristic threats, false imprisonment, pandering by compulsion, pimping, obstruction of law enforcement and simple battery, according to the Oct. 9, 2019 release.

On Sept. 1, 2018, Manuel threatened to riddle the house of a 20-year-old acquaintance with gunfire and to kill her and her family if she didn't comply with his demands, the release says. Out of fear, she obliged and went with him to his Mount Gilead Road SW house.

When they got there, Manuel demanded sex. He began removing her pants, the release says, but she resisted. He choked her until she lost consciousness, the release says.

When she woke up, he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

He made her change her clothes and brought her to a truck stop on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway in Southwest Atlanta, the release says, where he told her to solicit male customers for sex.

The release says he set prices at $40 for oral sex, $125 for 30 minutes of intercourse and $200 for one hour of intercourse. One man propositioned the victim, the release says, but she refused.

Manuel then drove the victim to another service station and made her drink alcohol before soliciting more men for sex. She didn't get any customers, the release says, so he threatened to "beat her a--."

The victim eventually got into a man's car, but asked to be let out. She went back to Manuel's car, who was following.

He told her to make him some money, the release says, or she would suffer the consequences.

Manuel drove the victim to a wooded park where she fell asleep in the vehicle. Manuel fired a gun outside the car, the release says, waking her up, and began to yell at her. He said he had killed two other women and dumped their bodies in the park, and that she would suffer the same fate if she didn't try harder. She agreed to do so the following day.

Manuel let the victim go to church the next day out of fear that her friends and family would worry if she didn't go. She was able to escape during this time, the release says.

A month later, on Oct. 3, 2018, Manuel was arrested by the Atlanta Police Department Fugitive Squad.

While in jail, he continued to contact the victim, telling her to sign an affidavit saying she didn't tell the truth.

Manuel will serve 40 years in prison and the rest of his life on probation.