A Denver man who forced a woman to earn him $1,000 a night through sexual servitude, then tracked her down and strangled her after she tried to escape, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. Dajon Blackman pleaded guilty to human trafficking for sexual servitude and pimping, and Denver District Attorney John Walsh announced the sentence this week, closing out a case that began when Blackman recruited a 25-year-old California woman in February 2024.
According to a press release from the Denver Police Department, Blackman drove the victim from California to Colorado in November 2024, controlling her through threats against her and her family. He allegedly told her she could only leave if she left completely naked and without any of her belongings, and warned her she would be barred from the house if she made less than $500 in a night. Prosecutors say the abuse was both physical and sexual, part of a pattern that stretched on for nearly a year.
The case turned violent in late November 2024, when Blackman assaulted and strangled the victim. She left him within days of that attack — but he tracked her down and assaulted her again before she was finally able to get away for good. Over the course of her ordeal, the woman said she experienced broken ribs, choking, guns, a knife, threats, humiliation and fear.
A Nearly Year-Long Pattern of Abuse
“Dajon Blackman manipulated a young woman for nearly a year while physically and sexually abusing her for financial gain,” Walsh said, crediting the victim's courage for making the guilty plea and sentence possible. Court statements indicate Blackman didn't stop with one victim — he also recruited a second victim in Colorado and was actively recruiting another out-of-state victim at the time of his arrest, details prosecutors have not fully resolved in public statements.
The prosecution was led by Chief Deputy District Attorney Ashley Morgan and Jennifer Sisk, director of the Human Trafficking Unit, working alongside Detective Denise Gomez of the Denver Police Department's Human Trafficking Unit. Walsh specifically thanked the prosecutors, investigators, victim advocates, and Gomez, along with the nonprofit From Silenced to Saved for its role in supporting the victim through the case. The Denver-based advocacy group, which received the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award in 2022, has provided emergency case management in other Denver-area trafficking prosecutions as well.
For the victim, the case's resolution carried personal weight beyond the courtroom. She said she was grateful Blackman was being held accountable and that she survived the ordeal, adding that she was taking her voice back and wanted justice.
Charges Rooted in Colorado's Trafficking Statute
Blackman's guilty plea falls under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-3-504, which classifies human trafficking for sexual servitude involving an adult as a Class 3 felony carrying four to 16 years in prison and mandatory sex offender registration, according to information compiled by Denver Sex Crimes Attorney. The statute designates trafficking as an extraordinary-risk crime, which expands the presumptive sentencing range — a factor that helps explain how Blackman's 25-year term extended well beyond the base felony range. Denver County Court records show the felony charges were formally filed under case docket number 26CR02886 in June 2026, ahead of Blackman's guilty plea.
The case reflects a broader operational approach Denver-area law enforcement has used since 2015, known as the high-risk victim model, which pairs specialized police detectives directly with prosecutors and nongovernmental victim advocates during trafficking investigations, as detailed by Sentinel Colorado. Walsh took office in January 2025 after winning the election the previous year, inheriting the Human Trafficking Unit originally established by former DA Beth McCann along with several major pending prosecutions.
Part of a Larger Statewide Pattern
Blackman's sentence lands amid what researchers describe as a persistently high volume of trafficking prosecutions across Colorado. A February report from the Common Sense Institute found the state recorded 88 human trafficking offenses in 2024, the 13th-highest total in the country, with commercial sex accounting for 79 percent of all trafficking crimes statewide in 2025. Colorado's offense count had peaked at a record 107 cases in 2023 and has remained near historical highs since.
The strangulation described by Blackman's victim also connects to a citywide prosecution priority. The Denver District Attorney's Office launched a Strangulation Response Protocol last month after finding that nearly 60 percent of the roughly 650 active cases handled by its Domestic Violence Unit involved strangulation. Walsh has emphasized multidisciplinary responses to strangulation across both domestic violence and sexual assault cases.
Blackman's case follows a string of multi-decade trafficking sentences handed down across metro Denver this year. In August, an Adams County judge sentenced trafficker Najeree Reed-Alexis to 20 years for trafficking an adult and a minor along Denver-area transit corridors, a case Hoodline reported also involved support from From Silenced to Saved. That same month, federal prosecutors indicted seven people in a separate multi-year forced labor and alien smuggling network following a joint FBI Denver and Colorado State Patrol investigation. Whether additional charges will emerge over Blackman's second Colorado recruit or the out-of-state woman he was allegedly still pursuing remains an open question.
