United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced Bobby Ray Williams Jr., 41, of Stantonsburg, and Temeeka Neshaune Honey, 40, of Wilson.
Authorities said Williams pled guilty to sex trafficking of a minor and Honey pled guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor.
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"The sentences imposed by the Court send a clear message that we will not tolerate the trafficking of humans - here a 15-year young girl - in the Eastern District of North Carolina," said Robert J. Higdon Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. "This horrible victimization of this young woman is beyond despicable and really is among the worst offenses our law addresses."
In December 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Raleigh Police Department investigated the sex trafficking of a minor.
Authorities identified a minor female (victim) who was reportedly being sexually exploited by several individuals.
The investigation showed that William Maurice Saddler, who was convicted by a federal jury in November, began an illicit dating relationship with the victim while she was 13 or 14 years old.
Saddler forced her to prostitute at migrant camps around Wilson, North Carolina. He used violence, fear, and manipulation to force the girl to continue prostituting to support Saddler's crack cocaine habit, authorities said.
Williams and Honey were Saddler's co-conspirators.
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The investigation also showed that Honey was Saddler's girlfriend and assisted him by taking the victim to various migrant camps for prostitution.
Williams is Saddler's brother, and he helped Saddler in prostituting the girl by accompanying them on multiple occasions to the migrant camps.
Additionally, Williams prostituted the victim himself and coerced the girl to have a sexual relationship with him.
Williams was sentenced to 180 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, while Honey was sentenced to 61 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.
"Human trafficking - on an individual level - or on a larger scale plagues our country and debases us as a people," Higdon said. "We will aggressively move to prosecute and convict those who traffic in human beings and end their victimization. I commend our law enforcement partners for their thorough and successful investigation."
The SBI, Wilson Police Department and Wilson County Sheriff's Office also helped in this investigation.