Raleigh man gets 5 life sentences for ‘modern-day slavery’ of women and children

A Raleigh man was sentenced to five terms of life in prison Tuesday for human trafficking of women and children that a prosecutor called “modern-day slavery.”

Brandon Marquis Jennings, 30, was convicted on June 13, 2019, of 13 counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, sex trafficking of a minor and production of child pornography after a four-day trial in New Bern, a release from the Department of Justice stated.

“Today Brandon Jennings received a sentence he richly deserved,” U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon said in a news release Tuesday after the sentencing in New Bern.

“He was convicted of crimes we call human trafficking — that is, exploiting a person for labor, service or commercial sex. But, in reality, Jennings was running a form of modern-day slavery,” Higdon said in the release.

Jennings operated a prostitution ring from 2013 to 2016 exploiting women and children he lured with love and money, prosecutors said. Then, he “ruthlessly manipulated, threatened, and violently assaulted his victims to ensure they would continue prostituting for him,” the release stated.

He also took their money and denied them food, it stated.

Erin Blondel, one of the prosecutors on the case, along with Bryan Stephany, said Jennings’ operations were spread across 13 states, from the Southeast to Texas to the West Coast.

Some of the victims were minors, including one who sent Jennings an image of child pornography. Blondel said the two youngest victims were 15 and 16 years old.

The Department of Homeland Security and Raleigh Police Department assisted in the investigation, Higdon said.

Domestic violence complaint

The case began in December 2016. Raleigh police officers responded to a call after Jennings became angry with a woman he was prostituting who wanted to leave him, Higdon said at a news conference in Raleigh on Tuesday.

Jennings began punching and kicking the woman, whom Higdon called TC. But she was able to call police and left the line open during the assault, he said.

Jennings had met TC on a social-networking site. She lived in a western state, where Jennings went and convinced her that working for him as an escort would lead to a better life, Higdon said. She agreed to work for him.

Jennings and TC traveled to several states to prostitute TC, Higdon said. He rented hotel rooms in her name and taught TC how to identify law enforcement officers.

But he also deprived her of her earnings, leaving her dependent on him. When TC said she wanted to leave, Jennings promised a relationship with him, used her children as leverage, and convinced her that prostitution was the only way to survive.

Jennings also assaulted her and threatened her children, Higdon said. He did not allow her to eat unless she earned enough money.

“Jennings identified vulnerable victims,” Higdon said. “He convinced them to prostitute themselves. He left them no way out. He physically and mentally abused them, stole their money and left them no option but to continue in the prostitution business..

Jennings advertised the women he prostituted on Backpage.com, a website now seized by the federal government.

Higdon praised the women who mustered the courage to speak up about what they’ve been through.

“They dug down deep and walked into that courtroom and told the details of the shocking and chilling way in which they’ve been sold into prostitution,” he said.

Court documents show a forensic psychiatrist determined Jennings was competent to stand trial.

He also tried to waive his right to an attorney, but a judge denied his request after he did not make it clear that he understood the consequences of representing himself, The News & Observer reported.

Prosecution of Human Trafficking

In recent years, U.S. Attorneys have been ramping up the prosecution of human trafficking offenses, Higdon said. In fiscal year 2018, the most recent year Higdon had statistics for, 526 people were convicted in human trafficking prosecutions, he said.

Since 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of North Carolina has prosecuted 13 human trafficking-related cases involving 16 defendants. Nine of those cases have resulted in convictions, Higdon said.

In 2018, prosecutors seized Backpage.com and prosecuted several company officials.

Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer pleaded guilty in state courts in California and Texas and federal court in Arizona to money laundering and conspiracy to facilitate prostitution in 2018, The Washington Post reported. In his federal plea agreement, Ferrer wrote he conspired with other Backpage principals “to find ways to knowingly facilitate the state-law prostitution crimes being committed by Backpage’s customers.”

This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 5:27 PM.