Wilson Man Sentenced to 40 Years for Sex Trafficking of a Minor

NEW BERN – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that today, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced WILLIAM MAURICE SADDLER, 35, of Wilson to 480 months’ imprisonment followed by a lifetime of supervised release.  On November 30, 2017, SADDLER was found guilty by a federal jury in New Bern of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and of a minor.

The evidence presented at trial showed:  The victim was fifteen years old.  He began dating and then having a sexual relationship with her.  One day, SADDLER gave her crack, took her to a migrant camp near Wilson, North Carolina, and forced her to prostitute.  After that, SADDLER took her to migrant camps near Wilson numerous times to prostitute.  Among other tactics, Saddler used violence, fear, and manipulation to force the victim to continue prostituting to support Saddler’s crack cocaine habit.

SADDLER’s brother, Bobby Ray Williams Jr., and his girlfriend, Temeeka Honey, helped transport the victim to prostitute.  Williams then also began prostituting the victim.  Around December 2015, SADDLER’s crack cocaine dealer, Kenneth Corvon Ward, and Ward’s girlfriend, Yadyra Brown, also began prostituting the victim around Wilson and Raleigh, North Carolina.  Williams, Ward, Honey, and Brown all were previously convicted and sentenced in related cases.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Raleigh Police Department, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, the Wilson Police Department and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorneys Erin C. Blondel and Eleanor Morales represented the United States.