Raleigh Man Sentenced to 17 ½ Years on Child Pornography Charge After Sex Trafficking 14-Year-Old Runaway


NEW BERN, N.C. – Marcus Antwan Gambrell, 30, of Raleigh, was sentenced today to 210 months in prison for manufacturing child pornography. Gambrell and co-defendant Kevin Rudolph were charged in a four-count superseding indictment on April 7, 2020. The indictment charged both men with sex trafficking of a minor and using the internet to promote prostitution, Gambrell with manufacturing child pornography, and Rudolph with possession of a firearm by a felon. Gambrell pled guilty to the manufacturing charge on January 19, 2021.

The victim explained to officers that after running away—in slippers and with no coat, despite it being late December—she had ended up at the Raleigh Inn in Raleigh. There, on Christmas Day, she had met and socialized with Gambrell and Rudolph. The two men invited her to relocate with them to a nearby Motel 6 the next day. Once at the Motel 6, Gambrell took nude photos of the victim with the iPad. The two men used those photos to post and maintain prostitution advertisements for the victim on the internet. Over the next two days, they took turns supervising the prostitution and updated each other over Facebook Messenger. The victim estimated that Rudolph and Gambrell arranged around 10 to 15 “dates” per day, and they kept all the money. She stated that on one occasion Gambrell had vaginal sex with her, as Rudolph recorded a video with his cell phone. Law enforcement, however, did not recover the video.
Co-defendant Kevin Rudolph pled not guilty on September 14, 2021, to three counts: sex trafficking of a minor, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and use of the internet to promote prostitution. Hs trial is currently scheduled to begin May 16, 2022.
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