Man gets 25 years for sex trafficking at 2020 Super Bowl

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Connecticut man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for sex trafficking at the 2020 Super Bowl in South Florida.

Edward Walker, 48, of New Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced Thursday in Fort Lauderdale federal court, according to court records. A jury found him guilty in October of sex trafficking by force and coercion, sex trafficking of a minor by force and coercion and transporting a person for sexual activity.

In January 2020, Walker brought two adult women and a 17-year-old girl to the Miami area from Connecticut to engage in commercial sex acts during the days before the Super Bowl, prosecutors said. While in Miami, Walker emotionally, psychologically and financially coerced the victims into soliciting customers and having sex with them in exchange for money, all of which Walker kept, officials said. Additional evidence showed that Walker also planned to take the victims to other locations, including Chicago during the NBA All-Star Game and New Orleans during Mardi Gras, to further exploit them.