EAST ST. LOUIS - A Granite City man was sentenced in federal court in East St. Louis to 175 months in prison after admitting he transported a minor across state lines in April 2022 and sexually assaulted the victim, according to court documents.
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Jeremy Wallace, 39, formerly of Granite City, pleaded guilty in June 2026 to one count of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Following his prison term, he will serve five years of supervised release.
According to court documents, Wallace admitted he drove to Missouri to pick up the minor victim, then drove the victim to his residence in Granite City and sexually assaulted the victim. The victim was 16 at the time of the assault.
“Thirty-nine-year-old men who sexually assault underage girls should expect to face the full weight of federal law,” U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft said.
Wallace also is charged in two criminal cases in Madison County, Illinois, involving firearms and criminal sexual assault. The district court ordered Wallace’s 175-month federal sentence to run concurrently with any prison term imposed in his pending criminal sexual assault case and consecutively with any prison term imposed in his pending firearms case.
Indictments are merely formal charges against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.
The Granite City Police Department led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Reppert prosecuted the case.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. According to the Justice Department, the initiative brings together federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute people who exploit children, including via the internet, and to identify and rescue victims.
