St. Louis Woman Indicted on Federal Sex Trafficking Charges

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in St. Louis indicted Waquita Wallace, aka Goddess, and April Chaney, aka April Wallace, yesterday on federal sex trafficking charges related to forcing another woman to engage in commercial sex acts in June 2008, announced Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Catherine L. Hanaway, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.  If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The indictment alleges that between June 1, 2008 and June 29, 2008, the defendant used force, fraud and coercion to cause another woman to engage in commercial sex acts and that the defendant benefitted financially from doing so.

An indictment is only an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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

 

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