RALEIGH – Antoine Lamar Wallace of Garner, formerly of Smithfield, was sentenced Wednesday to 156 months in federal prison for his role in the sex trafficking of a minor and aiding and abetting.
According to evidence presented at the trial of the co-defendant, Jonathan Lynn Jenkins, Wallace and Jenkins prostituted numerous women and minors between November 2014 and October 2015. The victims were young, vulnerable, and often struggling to survive.
After luring the victims with promises of food, shelter, and a better life, Wallace and Jenkins manipulated and controlled the victims’ lives, isolating them, abusing them, and keeping all money the victims earned.
Wallace and Jenkins were arrested in January 2016. Jenkins, the ringleader of the two, was convicted of multiple human trafficking charges at a federal trial in February. He was sentenced in August to three consecutive life sentences.
The Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, the Raleigh Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucy Brown and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Blondel prosecuted the case.
