Man sentenced on federal charges from 16-year-old’s rape in Madison County
.jpg "A federal judge handed down a sentence Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.")
A man accused of raping his ex-girlfriend’s 16-year-old daughter four years ago in Madison County was sentenced to federal prison.
Jeremy R. Wallace, 39, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on a federal charge of transporting a minor across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Court filings allege Wallace took her from her school bus stop in Missouri to his home in Granite City, where he raped her in April 2022. Wallace’s DNA was found on vaginal swabs collected as part of the girl’s sexual assault evidence kit, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge David W. Dugan of the Southern District of Illinois handed down the sentence Wednesday after Wallace pleaded guilty to the interstate travel charge in June.
Wallace’s attorney, Robert Elovitz, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Prosecutors charged Wallace in both federal court and Madison County Circuit Court, where his case is pending.
The Madison County felony charges include two counts of criminal sexual assault and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Wallace also faces charges of armed habitual criminal and two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. Those charges allege Granite City police found two guns when they searched his home in the sexual assault investigation.
Dugan stated in his July 15 judgment that the 14-year sentence will run concurrently with any sentence in the sexual assault charges. It will run consecutively with any sentence in the firearm charges.
Wallace’s Madison County trial is tentatively scheduled for September.
This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
