Durham woman convicted and ordered to pay victims nearly $1 million in North Carolina sex work scheme

A Durham woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison last week for her participation in a sex trafficking scheme targeting homeless and drug-addicted women.

Leslie Chevonne Stout, 43, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty last October to charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, threats of force, fraud and coercion. As part of Stout’s plea deal, 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 to repay $914,401.07 to five victims. Stout will be monitored for 10 years after her release.

Co-accused sentenced to life in prison

The sentencing comes nearly two years after Stout and his co-defendant, Chester Fletcher Wallace, were indicted on multiple sex trafficking charges.

After a jury trial, Wallace, 62, was convicted and sentenced to six concurrent life sentences in November.

The couple ran the trafficking ring from their 3-bedroom home on Main Street in Durham from July 2021 to May 2022, according to court documents. Wallace usually recruited women by offering them accommodation and drugs, but upon arrival at the home, the victims were quickly forced into prostitution.

Couple gave women pseudonyms and set strict ‘house rules’

The women were photographed and given pseudonyms for use on popular commercial websites, with Stout and Wallace pulling the strings to set up “dates” and control their victims’ income, according to court documents.

The two men also established strict house rules, forbidding their victims from having male visitors and taking their cell phones when they “behaved badly.”

When the women resisted, they were subjected to violence and threats, according to court documents. One victim described being dragged out of the shower where she was hiding from Wallace after fleeing to her mother’s motel room in the middle of the night.

Despite the abuse, the women told investigators they were terrified of leaving Stout and Wallace’s home, often because of their addiction to the drugs the couple made them use.

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 medicine.”

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 distant from my family because of my lifestyle, and having people around me who weren’t going to judge me and, you know, who loved me where I was 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.