MAP Forum

A federal judge sentenced Jesse Lonzo Teal, 73, to 13.5 years in federal prison for luring a minor into sex trafficking and producing child sexual abuse material. Teal pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Teal used the internet to recruit women—including a minor girl—to perform commercial sex at his Wilmington residence. Teal targeted vulnerable victims, struggling with addiction and at least one with low intellectual functioning. He used drugs and alcohol to make them pliable, and then he bullied and belittled them. Teal recorded hundreds of images and videos of the women in sexually explicit poses and engaged in sexual activity, sometimes without their knowledge or consent. Teal offered to sell the minor girl’s body for commercial sex, paid her to engage in sex with him and others, and took child sexual abuse material images of her.

Teal was charged as part of the investigation into Cape Fear Escorts, which served as a front for prostitution and human trafficking for more than a decade. Last year, a federal judge sentenced Christopher Todd Evans, its owner, to 25 years in federal prison and ordered him to pay $200,630.18 in restitution.

“This will not stand. We will not tolerate disgusting creeps who take advantage of our young girls and vulnerable women. This dirty old man can think about his terrible choices in a federal prison until his mid 80s.” said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle.