Denton Man Sentenced for Trafficking 17-Year-Old Girl

A Denton man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for child sex trafficking, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah.

In September 2020, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict against William Adam Jonathan Smith, convicting him of one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and one count of sex trafficking of a minor. He was sentenced today before U.S. District Judge Reed C. O'Connor.

According to evidence presented during his trial, Mr. Smith, 31, met and befriended the 17-year-old victim in the summer of 2019. He introduced her to Charity Cantu, his longtime girlfriend, who worked for him as a prostitute. Mr. Smith told Ms. Cantu that she was to groom and train the victim too make money for him providing commercial sex services.

From August thru October 2019, the victim accompanied Ms. Cantu to hotels in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas and engaged in commercial sex acts. All of the proceeds from the commercial sex acts performed by the victim were given to Mr. Smith.

Ms. Cantu, 25, pleaded guilty in March 2020 to a racketeering charge. In court documents, she admitted that although she knew the victim was a minor, Ms. Cantu groomed the girl for commercial sex and posted ads for her sexual services online. She testified at Mr. Smith's trial and was sentenced in October 2020 to two years in federal prison.

The Texas Attorney General's Office and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Denton Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Doug Allen and Brandie Wade tried the case.