A Louisiana man has been sentenced after prosecutors say he lured a woman into his nationwide prostitution ring involving drugged men.
Federal prosecutors say a 23-year-old job seeker needed money to buy a headstone for her son’s grave before her boyfriend pushed her into prostitution.
For years, Randy Jonal Schenck, 41, of Louisiana, kept a woman “compliant and under his control” through violence and coercion in his prostitution scheme spanning Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee and Texas, according to the Department of Justice.
Court documents show that at some point Schenk came up with a new plan that involved using prescription drugs. When the men were found unconscious, they were robbed, investigators say.
One drugged person was found dead the next day, prosecutors said.
A judge sentenced Schenck, of New Orleans, to 25 years in prison on Oct. 6 in connection with his nationwide sex-trafficking campaign that spanned about four years, according to a news release. It came after prosecutors said he pleaded guilty to seven charges.
Schenck’s attorney, Bruce Whittaker, told McClatchy News in a statement that they plan to appeal his sentence and the court’s denial of their objections to the presentence report. Only the judge can review this report.
Before Shenk was sentenced, the woman said he referred her drugs and rob at least 50 peopleWWL-TV reports.
Prosecutors say when the men woke up after being incapacitated by multiple substances, they were missing jewelry, money, debit and credit cards, weapons and other items.
Right
Throughout Schenck’s prostitution scheme, which began in 2013 and continued through 2017, he repeatedly beat the woman when she tried to leave him or disobey his orders as they traveled across several states, according to the release and court documents. In addition, the prosecutor’s office claims that he threatened her family with violence.
In 2013, the couple lived in New Orleans and became romantically involved shortly after the woman’s son died and after she lost custody of her other children, according to the affidavit.
At the time, she wanted to save up enough money for a gravestone and hire a lawyer to fight for custody of the children, the affidavit said.
Within weeks of the meeting, Schenck encouraged the woman to work as a prostitute, specifically at an escort agency, and began coordinating all of her dates, according to the investigation. As a result, he was left with the money that she had earned for many years of enterprise.
The woman worked at the agency for three months until she was ready to purchase a headstone for her son, the affidavit said.
But when she asked Schenk for money, he beat her and tried to drown her in the bathtub, according to investigators. After that, his physical abuse of her became regular and he changed the “prostitution operation”.
To find clients, Schenk posted online ads for prostitution services, otherwise the woman approached men on the street and in nightclubs, the affidavit said. During “meetings with prostitution”, men were robbed.
Schenk hit the woman to assert control, usually when he believed she was “ineffective in her role, stealing enough dates or unwilling to work,” the affidavit said. One day she was admitted to the hospital, according to the release.
In 2014, they began traveling around the U.S. before the “prostitution enterprise turned into a fraud scheme,” according to the release.
Schenk comes up with a new scheme
In 2015, while Schenck and the woman were in California, Schenck changed the prostitution scheme to “rob (the men) more effectively,” the affidavit said.
To do this, he created a mixture of drugs, including Xanax, Seraquel, Depakote and Trazadone, and placed them inside a capsule so the woman could “spike” the drinks of the men she was dating before having sex, according to the researchers.
That plan turned deadly in 2017 after a woman met a man identified as “SA” in Louisiana, the release said.
Schenck dropped the woman off at SA’s apartment, where she gave him drugs and alcohol that left him incapacitated, prosecutors say. She then stole his debit card.
The next day, law enforcement arrived at the apartment to conduct a well-being check and SA was found dead, the release said.
SA’s father told WWL-TV in a statement that he “promised (his) son justice and closure for my family.”
“God willing, we will not give up. We are grateful for the successes to date. However, we achieved only partial justice,” the father told the publication.
McClatchy News has reached out to the woman’s attorney for comment and was awaiting a response as of Oct. 11.
Court records show she was named as the initiator in the case against Schenk.
Schenck is due back in court for a hearing on the restitution order on Dec. 29, according to the release.
