The final defendant in a South Carolina child sex-trafficking conspiracy has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, closing out the sentencing phase for four people a federal prosecutor called responsible for stealing “the youth, the childhood of three children.”
Sentencing
U.S. District Judge Sherri A. Lydon sentenced Antonio Marquis Nicholson, 34, of West Columbia, to 300 months in prison, to be followed by lifetime supervised release; federal sentences carry no parole. Nicholson pleaded guilty in May 2025 to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children and to aiding and abetting the coercion and enticement of a minor. U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling, announcing the sentence, called Nicholson “a monster.”
How the ring operated
Prosecutors said Nicholson and his co-defendants ran an organized exploitation operation across the Southeast between December 2022 and July 2023, targeting 16- and 17-year-old girls with clear vulnerabilities. One victim was a runaway from another state whom Nicholson recruited and transported to Columbia; the other two were recruited directly outside a Columbia-area high school. The group enticed, harbored, transported and advertised the girls for commercial sexual exploitation, photographing them, supplying lingerie, posting ads on commercial-sex websites and confiscating the proceeds. Prosecutors said the teenagers were subjected to physical violence and forced into sex with adult buyers while being exposed to drugs, guns and violent customers, with no reliable access to food or medical care. The operation used hotels in Columbia — including locations on Columbiana Drive — as well as in Augusta, Georgia, and Charlotte, Myrtle Beach and Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The other defendants
Three co-defendants were sentenced earlier in the case: Terrell Counts received 135 months, Rebecca Melanie Perry 150 months, and Monesha Tatayana Lapri Gary 165 months. Nicholson’s victims are not identified here.
Homeland Security Investigations, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Columbia Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elliott B. Daniels and Ariyana N. Gore prosecuted the case.
What remains unresolved
The Justice Department’s announcement did not describe restitution, the defense’s sentencing arguments, or the services now available to the three survivors. It also did not say whether related investigations into the adult buyers who purchased sex from the victims remain open.
Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina, WIS-TV, WRDW, WACH.
