Durham woman sentenced, ordered to pay victims nearly $1M in NC sex-work scheme
A Durham woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison last week for her part in a sex-trafficking scheme targeting women experiencing homelessness and substance abuse.
Leslie Chevonne Stout, 43, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty last October to a charge of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, threats of force, fraud and coercion. As part of Stout’s plea agreement, three counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion were dismissed, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs also ordered Stout repay five victims $914,401.07. Stout will be supervised for 10 years upon her release.
Co-defendant sentenced to life terms in prison
The sentencing comes almost two years after Stout and her codefendant, Chester Fletcher Wallace, were indicted on multiple sex trafficking charges.
After a jury trial, Wallace, 62, was found guilty and was sentenced to six concurrent life terms in November.
The couple ran the trafficking ring out of their 3-bedroom home on Main Street in Durham from July 2021 to May 2022, court documents show. Wallace would typically recruit women by offering them housing and drugs, but upon arriving at the home, victims were quickly forced into sex work.
Couple gave women aliases, set strict ‘house rules’
The women were photographed and given aliases to be used on popular commercial sex websites, with Stout and Wallace pulling the strings to set up “dates” and control their victims’ income, according to court documents.
The pair also established strict house rules, forbidding their victims from having male visitors and taking their cell phones when they “misbehaved.”
When the women resisted, they were met with violence and threats, court documents state. One victim described being dragged out of the shower where she was hiding from Wallace after escaping to her mother’s motel room in the middle of the night.
Despite the abuse, the women told investigators they were terrified to leave Stout and Wallace’s home, often because of their dependence on the drugs the couple plied them with.
The News & Observer is not naming the victims to protect their privacy.
“I had to feed my addiction,” one victim testified. “I had to pay for my drugs.”
Another victim told jurors she felt she had no choice but to stay with Stout and Wallace.
“I was desperate,” she testified. “At the time I was very estranged from my family because of my lifestyle, and to have people around me that weren’t going to judge me and, you know, just love me where I was at was important.”
Call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to get help, report a tip or learn more about human trafficking.
This story was originally published September 30, 2024 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Durham woman sentenced, ordered to pay victims nearly $1M in NC sex-work scheme."
