CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Charlotte couple pleaded guilty to sex trafficking minors and forcing them into prostitution.
Zerrell Ross Fuentes, 24, and his wife, Brianna Leshay Wright, 25, appeared in federal court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to sex trafficking three minor victims, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
According to filed plea documents and statements made in court between April 28, 2016 and May 8, 2016, Fuentes, his mother, Wright and indicted co-conspirator, Tanya Marie Fuentes, worked together. Fuentes admitted that while he was in jail, he recruited three underage victims via telephone to engage in prostitution to earn money for his bond. He arranged for Wright to transport the minor victims from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts.
While in Myrtle Beach, Tanya Fuentes paid for lodging, and Brianna Wright’s phone was used to post prostitution advertisements for the minor victims on the Internet. She also provided her own telephone number on the ads as a means of communication to arrange “dates” between the minors and customers and transported the victims to and from the arranged prostitution appointments.
Zerrell Fuentes and Wright remain in custody. A sentencing date has not been set. Tanya Fuentes is charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking of a minor, conspiracy to transport a minor to engage in prostitution and transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution. Those charges are still pending.
The penalty for sex trafficking related offenses is a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
