Leigha Simonton, United States Attorney, Northern District of Texas | U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas
A Dallas man was sentenced to over 15 years in federal prison for coordinating the trafficking of a 17-year-old girl. Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Chad E. Meacham, announced the sentencing of Christopher Jabar Jenkins, 33, on April 9, 2025.
Jenkins was indicted in August 2023 and pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer sentenced him to 188 months in federal prison, followed by 35 years of supervised release. He is also required to pay $82,300 in restitution to the victim.
According to plea documents, Jenkins admitted to advertising the victim's sexual services on commercial sex websites between July and November 2022. He rented hotel rooms for commercial sex dates and negotiated with patrons.
Interview evidence revealed Jenkins physically assaulted the victim, threatened her with a gun, and forced her to brand herself with a tattoo to indicate his ownership. He also kept her identification to prevent her from leaving.
Prosecutors at the sentencing hearing described how Jenkins forced the victim to work seven days a week for up to fourteen hours a day, taking all the proceeds for himself.
Court documents indicated that after Jenkins' arrest in September 2022 on unrelated charges, he transferred the victim to another trafficker and continued trafficking her from jail. He instructed the victim to keep participating in commercial sex acts through recorded jail calls and coordinated logistics for the criminal enterprise with coconspirators.
Jenkins specifically directed a coconspirator to collect the victim's earnings and deposit money into his jail commissary account. Records showed funds were deposited into this account at least seven times from September 13 to September 29, 2022.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation, with significant support from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle A. Winters prosecuted the case.
