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3 Defendants Sentenced in a Federal Court in Louisiana to 60+ Years in Separate Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Cases

Louisiana – On June 24, 2022, United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced the resolution of two cases involving sex crimes. United States District Judge James D. Cain, Jr. sentenced the three defendants as follows:

Kevondric Fezia, 26, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 327 months in prison (27 years, 3 months), and Calista Jenee Winfrey, 23, of Orange, Texas, was sentenced to 36 months (3 years). Following their release from prison, both defendants will serve 5 years of supervised release. In addition, Fezia and Winfrey were each ordered to pay $3,500 in restitution. Fezia and Winfrey were charged with sex trafficking and attempting to lure a minor into prostitution. Following a two-day trial, Fezia was convicted by a jury in Lafayette, and Winfrey pleaded guilty to sex trafficking in February 2022.

Beginning in November 2020, Fezia began recruiting minor females for prostitution and began communicating with a 14-year-old female in Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to evidence presented in this case. Fezia was well aware that she was a minor when he began communicating with her, but he pursued her and tried to persuade her that she would profit from prostitution through him. The minor victim decided to flee to Texas with Fezia. He picked up the minor victim and drove her to Texas on February 13, 2021. Winfrey and Fezia were both aware that the victim was only 14 years old, but they persisted in their efforts to persuade her to engage in prostitution.

Both defendants accompanied the minor victim to a hotel in Beaumont, Texas, where they introduced her to a 16-year-old prostitute who also worked for Fezia. Winfrey engaged in multiple acts of prostitution in the presence of the minor victim at the hotel, constantly attempting to persuade her that she, too, should engage in prostitution. Fezia photographed both minor girls and other prostitutes he employed. He then posted them as an advertisement on his Instagram account, along with a visible geo tag directing those who saw the advertisement to where they could engage in sexual acts with the girls.

When the minor victim’s grandmother realized her granddaughter had run away from home, she began looking through her granddaughter’s social media accounts, where she discovered communications between her granddaughter and Fezia. She then contacted authorities. Fezia was identified by law enforcement officers and found in his apartment in Houston, Texas, along with other prostitutes and the minor victim. He tried to conceal her in the closet, but she and another 16-year-old prostitute were discovered.

The Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the Lake Charles Police Department investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Luke Walker and John W. Nickel.

In the second case, Mickey Dewayne Williams, 43, of Lake Charles, was sentenced to 327 months in federal prison (27 years, 3 months), followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for child sexual exploitation.

In March 2021, law enforcement officers in Texas were contacted by a person alleging that Williams had videotaped their minor child naked in the bathtub. When law enforcement officers questioned Williams about the incident, he admitted to taking photographs of the child while they were in the Western District of Louisiana. Williams has a prior felony conviction in the Western District of Louisiana for possession of child pornography from 2014. He was on supervised release after serving time in federal prison for that offense at the time of this incident.

The Department of Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Luke Walker.

“These defendants sought out those to victimize who were vulnerable, whether it was girls under the age of 17, or minor children, without any regard for the well being of those victims but instead to gratify their own selfish desires,” said United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown. “Sex trafficking and sexual exploitation crimes are on the rise, and we are committed to continuing to work with our federal and local partners to stop those who choose to destroy teenage lives and scar those of child victims.”

“There is no place in our society for those who prey on the most vulnerable of our population. These sentence lengths reflect the heinous nature of the crimes committed, and for the HSI special agents and our law enforcement partners, it’s a gratifying outcome. We are thankful to our special agents and our law enforcement partners who do the difficult but important work of investigating these crimes,” said HSI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Dave Denton. “We also hope that the sentence serves as part of the victims’ healing process, and it reaffirms our commitment to safeguarding our nation’s children.”

These cases are part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative led by the United States Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood, led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, combines federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. To learn more about Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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