In April of 2023, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office announced it had made six arrests based on over 300 charges as part of an ongoing investigation into Cape Fear Escorts, a now-defunct company that provided dancers and escorts.
Authorities argued that Cape Fear Escorts was essentially a front for prostitution and human trafficking, involving over 150 victims. NHCSO led the investigation as part of the Coastal Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force, which also included the FBI, Homeland Security, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and several other sheriff’s offices and local police departments.
Prosecutors, including Assistant District Attorney Connie Jordan, who handled the cases until recently, said Cape Fear Escorts has been under investigation for 15 years.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, District Attorney Jason Smith, who serves Pender and New Hanover counties, wrote, “Earlier today my office filed dismissals for cases involving Christopher Arrowood, Chandler Anderson, Dustin Anderson, Michael Snow, Jesse Bright, and Jennifer Jones. They were charged with Promotion of Prostitution.”
Jennifer Jones was not one of the original six arrests; she was arrested later in 2023. Another defendant, Brandon Hollamon, was also arrested as part of the case but passed away in 2024 at the UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, survived by his parents, siblings, and a teenage daughter, according to an obituary.
Smith said the case was dropped because they would not have been successful at trial.
“It is always the ethical duty of a prosecutor to do justice and in some instances that requires dismissing cases when our office cannot meet its burden of proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt. After consultation with the victims and law enforcement partners working on these cases, we came to the conclusion that we would not be successful at meeting that burden at trial,” he wrote.
Court records also indicate insufficient evidence cited as the reason for dismissal.
While at least some of the cases appeared to have originated from an FBI investigation, only one person, Christopher Todd Evans, faced federal charges. Evans, who was facing the most serious charges in the case, pleaded guilty in federal court last year. He was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison.
In late September last year, Evans took a plea deal. According to court documents, the state consolidated over 200 charges with a combined maximum sentence of 837 months, or nearly 70 years; Evans was sentenced to between 77 and 153 months, running concurrently with his federal sentence, meaning he won’t serve any additional time.
Not long after Evan's plea on state charges, Jordan retired. Barrett Temple, a longtime prosecutor and currently first assistant district attorney, took over the cases in the final months and, according to court records, oversaw dismissal proceedings.
