A Wilmington man has been sentenced to 13.5 years in federal prison for luring a minor into sex trafficking and producing child sexual abuse material. Jesse Lonzo Teal, 73, pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Court documents and evidence presented at trial showed that Teal used the internet to recruit women, including a minor girl, for commercial sex acts at his residence in Wilmington. The victims were described as vulnerable, with some struggling with addiction and at least one having low intellectual functioning. Teal provided drugs and alcohol to these individuals to manipulate them, then bullied and belittled them. He recorded hundreds of sexually explicit images and videos involving the women, sometimes without their knowledge or consent. Teal also offered the minor girl for commercial sex, paid her to engage in sex acts with him and others, and produced child sexual abuse images of her.
Teal’s charges stemmed from an investigation into Cape Fear Escorts, which operated as a front for prostitution and human trafficking over more than ten years. Last year, Christopher Todd Evans—the owner of Cape Fear Escorts—was sentenced by a federal judge to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $200,630.18 in restitution.
Ellis Boyle, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced the sentencing after Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II delivered the sentence. The case was investigated by the FBI and New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Blondel.
