Contributed Photo/Courtesy Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office: Iran Dewayne Munn, 46, of Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to attempted child sex trafficking and luring a minor for sexual exploitation.
By Jon Johnson
jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com
CLIFTON – Iran Dewayne Munn, 46, of Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty Nov. 17 to an amended charge of attempted child sex trafficking and luring a minor for sexual exploitation – both Class-3 felonies. He faces a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
According to the plea agreement, Munn will be placed on lifetime sex offender probation for the luring charge and faces a sentence anywhere from probation to up to 15 years in prison on the trafficking charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 5, 2021. The presumptive sentence for the charge is 10 years and the minimum is set at 5 years.
Munn was originally arraigned in Greenlee County Superior Court on May 12 and was charged with three counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation, possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person, and possession of marijuana. All of those charges except the one luring charge were dismissed in accordance with the plea agreement.
Prosecutors allege that Munn had encouraged a 16-year-old victim to begin a life of prostitution for him in a series of messages he had sent to her over the course of the previous two years.
On April 21, Munn reportedly came to Morenci in a semi-truck and trailer to see the victim but instead found deputies from the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office waiting for him. After a brief struggle, he was taken into custody. A subsequent search of the truck located marijuana and a Taurus .357 Magnum revolver that Munn had apparently attempted to conceal in a pillowcase.
When arrested, Munn questioned what it was all about and the deputies advised that they had seen messages from him to the victim that were sexual in nature. It was learned that Munn allegedly had used the Facebook and Snapchat applications under different names, including “Chase Cruise” and “Dwayne Money”.
The explicit messages included propositions to have intercourse with Munn and to do so with other men for money. One message advised that Munn needed the victim to “play like a naughty daddy’s girl” so he could “get my video production company up.” Another requested the victim send him naked pictures of herself from the chest area down and he, in turn, sent her naked pictures of women.
The victim pleaded with Munn to stop sending her such messages, advised she would never do anything like he was describing, and blocked him.
During the arrest, officers received permission from Munn to check his cellphone. As the deputy scrolled through the Facebook Messenger application, he showed Munn the messages from his account to the victim. Munn appeared surprised and confused and said he didn’t send the messages and that he has a lot of crazy women in his life.
The day Munn came to Morenci, the victim’s family received word from a family member in Tennessee advising that they had found messages of a sexual nature from Munn that were sent to an underage girl. The parents then questioned the victim, who showed them the various messages. The parents then contacted the Sheriff’s Office, which was ready to intercept Munn when he came to town and found him parked at the Conoco gas station.
Munn is being held on a $200,000 bond and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 5, 2021, starting at 10:15 a.m.
