Granite City Man Sentenced to 175 Months for Transporting a Minor with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Assault

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A district judge sentenced a Granite City man to 175 months of federal imprisonment after he admitted to driving a minor across state lines and committing criminal sexual assault.

Jeremy Wallace, 39, formerly of Granite City, pleaded guilty in June to one count of Transportation with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity. According to court documents, Wallace admitted that in April 2022 he drove to Missouri to pick up the minor victim. Wallace then drove the victim to his residence in Granite City and sexually assaulted the minor victim. At the time of the assault, the victim was 16 years old. Following imprisonment, Wallace will serve 5 years on supervised release.

"Thirty-nine-year-old men who sexually assault underage girls should expect to face the full weight of federal law," said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.

Wallace is currently charged with two criminal cases in Madison County, Illinois for charges involving firearms and criminal sexual assault. The district court ordered Wallace's 175-month federal sentence to run concurrently with any term of imprisonment imposed in Wallace's pending criminal sexual assault case, and consecutively with any term of imprisonment imposed in Wallace's pending firearms case. Indictments are merely formal charges against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.

Granite City Police Department led the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Reppert prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.