California Man Sentenced To More Than 20 Years In Prison For Child Exploitation Offenses

Jacksonville, Florida – Gyasi Wallace (33, California) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger to 20 years and 10 months in prison for producing of child sexual abuse material. He pleaded guilty on August 26, 2025. Wallace is also required to serve 25 years of supervised release and register as a sexual offender.

According to court documents, on November 2, 2023, officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to a Greyhound bus station to investigate a missing person, a 12-year-old female. Officers located the child with Wallace, who had purchased a bus ticket to California for himself and the child. Wallace was arrested and the child was reunited with her mother. A search of Wallace’s electronic devices revealed that the child and Wallace began talking on a social media application when the child was 10 years old. Wallace’s cellphone contained videos of the child engaging in sexually explicit conduct. There were also numerous videos and images found on Wallace’s devices containing children engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

“The exploitation of children leaves scars that last a lifetime—including invisible scars not only for the victims, but for their families and communities,” said Homeland Security Investigations Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Hemker. “Wallace’s actions were calculated, predatory, and deeply destructive. His calculated attempt to flee across state lines with a minor victim—boarding a bus bound for California—shows the lengths predators will go to evade justice and continue their abuse. Child exploitation is not a crime that ends when the abuse stops; it inflicts lifelong trauma on victims and their families. HSI and our INTERCEPT Task Force partners will remain relentless in our pursuit of justice for victims.” 

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Cannizzaro.

It is another case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.