Aspiring pimps were trained by ‘prostitution enterprise’ based in NC, feds say

A North Carolina man is prison bound after conceding he was the mastermind of a multi-state sex trafficking operation that trained “aspiring pimps,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of North Carolina.

Carrollton Levon Jenkins, 36, was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for charges associated with sex trafficking and “operating a prostitution enterprise,” federal prosecutors said.

The “criminal empire” was based out of the Jacksonville, between at least January 2017 and April 2022 and “spanned at least 51 cities and 15 states,” the FBI reports.

Evidence implicating Jenkins was gathered in April 2022, when officers executed search warrants at his home and business, officials said. Among the items collected were multiple phones, prosecutors said.

“Jenkins advertised his illegal sex slaves on various social media platforms where he promoted training aspiring pimps – referring to them as his protegees – to instruct them on how to target and exploit victims,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports.

“He victimized vulnerable women, including girls, using manipulation, control, threats, and violence to coerce his victims into prostitution. He forced the victims to give him their earnings, mandating each get raped by upwards of 15 Johns a day, seven days a week.”

U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle called the lengthy prison sentence appropriate, and noted girls and women were exposed “to all manner of disease, depravity, and bodily harm.”

Jacksonville is about a 120-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.

This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 9:14 AM.