Toledo man Sentenced to over 26 years for Coercion and Enticement of a Minor and Drug Trafficking

TOLEDO – Derrick Murphy, 40 of Toledo, Ohio was sentenced to 320 months imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick after earlier pleading guilty to enticement of a minor and drug charges. Judge Helmick also ordered Murphy to serve 10 years of supervised release upon release from imprisonment.

Murphy was sentenced to 180 months for his role in a drug conspiracy and for distributing and possessing with intent to distribute narcotics. According to court documents, in late July 2019, FBI agents in Toledo, Ohio received information from FBI agents in San Diego, California and Charlotte, North Carolina that a courier for a Sinaloa Mexico based drug trafficking organization had been identified bringing kilogram quantities of cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl to Toledo. Further investigation by the Toledo agents identified Murphy as the local distributor leader. After a lengthy investigation, agents in late April 2021 received information that Murphy was expecting another large shipment of suspected fentanyl to be delivered. After surveillance, a subsequent traffic stop led to the seizure of approximately 5 kilograms of fentanyl and $17,515 in U.S. currency from members of Murphy’s organization. Subsequent federal search warrants resulted in the seizure of additional quantities of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Murphy was also sentenced to 140 months for coercing and enticing a minor to engage in the production of sexually explicit materials from December 2020 to May 2021. Both sentences were ordered to be served consecutive to each other.

This case was investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Toledo Metro Drug Task Force and the Toledo Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alissa Sterling.