COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two South Carolina women have pleaded guilty in federal court to human trafficking conspiracy.
According to a release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Carolina, Monesha Tatayana Lapri Gary, 24, of Clinton, and Rebecca Melanie Perry, 30, of Columbia, recruited and exploited three minors as sex workers from at least Dec. 2022 to Aug. 2023.
Authorities claim the two women worked together with co-defendants Antonio Marquis Nicholson and Terrell Counts to advertise and transport the victims in a commercial sex trade.
“They drove her across state lines, told her that she was going to work in commercial sex, bought her lingerie, took photos of her, advertised her for commercial sex on the internet, and arranged for customers to exploit her at hotels in the Columbia area and elsewhere in the state,” the release reads.
Prosecutors say one minor was recruited when Nicholson and Perry encountered her at a hotel as a runaway. Two additional minor victims were recruited near a high school, and they were exploited on days they were not in school. One victim was physically assaulted, and several members of the conspiracy carried firearms and distributed drugs around the victims.
Gary chatted with customers as if she were a minor victim, transported a minor to another city to be exploited, collected proceeds and turned them over to Nicholson.
Gary and Perry face up to life in prison. They also face a fine of up to $250,000, lifetime supervision after imprisonment and will be required to registered as sex offenders. The pair agreed to pay restitutions to the victims in a plea agreement.
United States District Judge Sherri A. Lydon will sentence Gary and Perry after reviewing a sentencing report from the U.S. Probation Office. The indictment remains pending against Nicholson and Counts.