Shaquana Brookins Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking, Cocaine Ring

Shaquana Quenella Brookins, a 31-year-old Jacksonville woman, has pleaded guilty to running a violent sex trafficking ring fueled by crack cocaine, terrorizing a vulnerable victim for years while distributing hundreds of grams of narcotics across the city. She admitted in federal court today to sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion; conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine base; and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Brookins now faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in federal prison — up to life — with no sentencing date yet scheduled.

From the summer of 2013 through late 2015, Brookins operated a brutal criminal enterprise rooted in addiction and fear. According to her plea agreement, she trafficked crack cocaine, heroin, and flakka across Jacksonville while routinely wielding firearms to intimidate rivals and victims alike. But her most heinous crimes were reserved for a woman identified as D.C., whom Brookins pulled into commercial sex work around March 2014. Exploiting D.C.’s crack cocaine addiction, Brookins maintained control through repeated physical violence, beating her to force sex acts and punish any disobedience.

D.C. tried to escape multiple times. Each time, Brookins hunted her down and forced her back into servitude. One trafficker, one victim, one cycle of abuse — all propped up by the very drug fueling D.C.’s dependency. Brookins didn’t just profit from the exploitation — she weaponized addiction, using crack as both a leash and a currency. She even paid a driver in crack to shuttle D.C. and other victims to sex “dates,” deepening the web of coercion.

Even more disturbing, Brookins used crack cocaine to pay an attorney who represented D.C. and another trafficking victim in criminal cases — a grotesque manipulation of the justice system. In return, Brookins obtained a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver from the same attorney, paying for the firearm with drugs. A convicted felon with four prior felony convictions, Brookins was legally barred from possessing any firearm or ammunition under federal law — a fact she ignored with deadly intent.

The scope of her drug operation was vast: Brookins and multiple co-conspirators distributed at least 200 grams of crack cocaine during the span of the conspiracy. Each transaction fed her empire of violence, each hit tightening her grip on those under her control. This wasn’t just trafficking — it was systematic enslavement masked as commerce, where human bodies were bartered for crack and bullets.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor. As federal authorities dismantle Brookins’s network, the scars left on her victims remain. In Jacksonville’s darkest corners, power is often bought with pain. This time, the law has caught up.