Newly Formed Oakland County Human Trafficking Task Force​ Makes First Arrest: Police

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — A Wayne County man was arrested in connection with the human trafficking of two women across metro Detroit, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

Damon Napier, 61, was charged with two counts of human trafficking enterprise resulting in injury, two counts of transporting a person for the purposes of prostitution, two counts of accepting earnings of a prostitute, one count of pandering and three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Officials said Napier has a decades-long criminal history with convictions in California and Indiana, as well as Michigan. They said his crimes include kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and various drug charges.

He was placed in the Oakland County Jail with a bond set a $1 million. A conviction on any of the prostitution charges carries up to 20 years in prison.

Oakland County Sheriff Micheal Bouchard said Napier is the first person to be charged under an investigation by the recently formed Oakland County Human Trafficking Task Force.

The Sheriff’s Office and Madison Heights police, along with the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, initially worked on the investigation, which was launched after a missing person report filed in 2023.

"We know human trafficking is one of the most insidious and terrible crimes through its ongoing victimizing of those that are being trafficked," Bouchard said. "We will do all in our power to hold these disgusting criminal individuals accountable for their acts and remove trafficked individuals from this torture. Sadly, we have another example of a career criminal out on the street in a position to hurt more people."

Napier was arrested in connection with human trafficking involving two different cases - one out of Southfield and another out of Warren, according to police.

The cases against Napier involve two women, both age 31, and are residents of Oakland and Macomb counties, according to police.

Officials said Napier is used various tactics common with human traffickers, such as controlling the victim’s ability to use a phone, moving them to various locations to engage in commercial sexual activity, engaging in physically and sexually assaulting behaviors and providing illegal narcotics to his victims.

Napier was eventually arrested in connection with the cases in Dearborn on Jan. 17.

Police believe there are other victims within the human trafficking ring led by Napier, but they have not yet come forward.

Bouchard urged victims or anyone who has information about instances of human trafficking or even the possibility to call the Madison Heights police Detective Arnela Dizdarevic at 248-837-2762, the Sheriff’s Office at 248-858-4950 or their local police.