St. Louis Woman Sentenced on Federal Sex Trafficking Charges

ST. LOUIS, MO—Waquita Wallace was sentenced to 20 years in prison on a federal charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, Grace Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and Michael W. Reap, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri announced today.

In June 2008, April Chaney moved into the 5200 block of Genevieve in St. Louis to live with her sister, Waquita Wallace. That same month, Chaney and Wallace talked a mentally disabled18 yearold girl into moving in with them so they could care for her. Instead the girl was held captive, forced to give up her monthly disability check, and to work as a prostitute to pay off a drug debt. Wallace constantly threatened, beat, burned, tortured and humiliated the girl. On one occasion, Wallace was afraid that the police had been called, so she and Chaney tied the girl up with a phone cord and left her in the garage.

“Sex trafficking violates individuals’ basic human rights, stripping them of their dignity and freedom,” Acting Assistant Attorney General King said. “The damage done to the victim in this case cannot be reversed, but I applaud the investigators and attorneys who brought these defendants to justice, and it should send a message that we will continue to vigorously enforce our nation’s civil rights laws.”

“This case was a horrible violation against a human being who couldn't defend herself,” said John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in St. Louis. “The FBI will aggressively work with our partners to identify, investigate and bring to justice those who exploit children and women and traffic in human misery.”

Wallace, 34, St. Louis, pleaded guilty in April to forcing a young woman to engage in commercial sex acts through a combination of threats, fraud, intimidation and physical coercion. She appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Carol E. Jackson. At the conclusion of her prison sentence, Wallace will be on supervised release for five years.

Co-defendant April Chaney previously pleaded guilty to related charges and was sentenced last December to five years in prison.

Human trafficking prosecutions are a top priority of the Department of Justice. In the last seven fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, has increased by nearly seven-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court as compared to the previous seven fiscal years. In FY 2007, the Department obtained a record number of convictions in human trafficking prosecutions.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Intelligence Division of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Howard Marcus and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Jim Felte.