PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — A Pensacola man was convicted by an Escambia County jury of three counts of Unlawful Sexual Activity with Certain Minors after taking advantage of a family who was going through hard times financially, in 2019.

According to the State Attorney’s Office, during the trail, it was revealed that Darrel Tyrone Mays, Sr., befriended a family that had fallen on hard times. According to the original 2020 arrest report, an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputy received a call from a concerned citizen regarding possible sexual misconduct with a minor. The caller was a friend of Mays, and said Mays was bragging about having sex with a minor living in his home.

The report said the caller said Mays had been claiming to have been “airing it out” with the 17-year-old daughter and the caller knew the term pertained to having sex. On March 11, 2020, a victim was brought to ESCO to report a sexual battery that occurred between the beginning of Aug. 2019 and Jan. 2020.

The defendant said in the report that near the end of July 2019, they lost their home and were staying with friends, hotels and living in their vehicles. Mays, who is a cousin of the defendant’s ex-husband and a family friend, contacted her and offered to help her and her kids in any way that he could. The defendant said sometimes Mays would give them money for hotel rooms and would buy them food. Near the beginning of 2019, Mays told the defendant that she and her kids could stay at his house with him and his wife. They moved into Mays home in December 2019.

When the Sheriff’s Office came out to their home regarding a report of sexual activity between Mays and the victim in 2019, both parties denied everything and the defendant stated in the report, that at that time, she was unaware anything was occurring. It wasn’t until the end of Jan. 2020, when the victim told her mother the truth about what was going on between her and Mays. According to the report, the victim told her mother that she had been having sex with Mays since the beginning of Aug. 2019, and had been having sex on a daily basis.

The victim said in the report that Mays would hold providing money and food over her head and what would happen if he stopped helping. The victim said almost everyday since Aug. 2019, Mays would pick her up, or he would just show up at places that she was at and take her to different hotels or to his house and sometimes would leave Pensacola.

Mays reportedly never used protection of any kind and took the victim to the doctor without her mother’s knowledge because he thought he had gotten her pregnant. The victim said she was experiencing painful urination and Mays told her she may have an STD. He then reportedly gave the victim his prescription antibiotics for protection from STDs.

According to the report, Mays estranged wife, Takahashi Mays, said she suspected him of having an inappropriate relationship with the victim after she saw them in a car together on Highway 29, early Dec. 2019. Takahashi Mays confronted Mays about it, and he denied it. She then obtained a restraining order against Mays and moved out of the home.   

“This Defendant preyed on a vulnerable victim during a difficult time in her family’s life and that makes him a danger to the community,” said prosecuting attorney, Carrie Gilmer. “This verdict provides some closure to the family.”

Sentencing is scheduled for September 22, 2022, in front of Circuit Court Judge Jennie Kinsey. Mays faces up to 45 years in state prison and is required to be designated a Sexual Offender. The defendant also has another pending case for similar allegations against a different victim.

The investigation and arrest were conducted by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant State Attorney Carrie Gilmer prosecuted this case. On behalf of Ginger Bowden Madden, State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida.