In a stark reminder of the persistent scourge of human trafficking, the justice system has doled out a hefty sentence to a Dallas man for his heinous actions. On Wednesday, Christopher Jabar Jenkins, a 33-year-old convicted of sex trafficking while already behind bars, received a sentence exceeding 15 years in federal prison, as announced by Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.
Jenkins, who had been indicted in August 2023, entered a guilty plea last October to a count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and he must now face 188 months in prison following his sentence by U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer. Also, he's looking at 35 years of supervised release post-incarceration and was hit with an order to pay $82,300 in restitution to his teenage victim. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Jenkins admitted he advertised the 17-year-old girl's sexual services online and made hotel arrangements for the illicit encounters while negotiating deals for this vile trade.
The brutality imposed on the child by Jenkins was revealed in an interview, where she recounted how the trafficker physically assaulted her, wielded a gun as a threat, coerced her into getting a tattoo as a claim of ownership, and even confiscated her ID to prevent her escape. Prosecutors at the sentencing hearing laid bare the grim reality that the girl had been made to endure up to fourteen-hour days of exploitation, seven days a week, with Jenkins pocketing all the profits for himself.
Even after Jenkins had been incarcerated in September 2022 for unrelated charges, he shamelessly perpetuated the trafficking, passing the minor to another perpetrator, instructing her through recorded calls to persist in the commercial sex acts, and coordinating with accomplices regarding the operations of this criminal activity – pricing, advertising, scheduling, travel. Records show that more were managed with cold precision while having individuals deposit money from the victim's labor into his jail commissary account no fewer than seven times.
The rigorous investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, supported by the Texas Department of Public Safety, culminated in Jenkins' prosecution, spearheaded by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle A. Winters.
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