FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 23, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV CRT (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888 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, each 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 defendants used force, fraud and coercion to cause another woman to engage in commercial sex acts and that the defendants 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. 08-647
Source: US Department of Justice
