Family of trafficked teenage girl from Mavericks game criticize Dallas police ineptitude

Oklahoma Metropolis authorities arrested and charged eight people after a 15-year-old Texas lady was allegedly trafficked from a Dallas Mavericks recreation at American Airways Heart on April 8. The lady’s household is now criticizing Dallas police for failing to open an investigation.

Dallas police reported that an officer was notified of the teenage lady’s disappearance and searched the venue on that very same evening. The police division pointed to Texas Household Code (51.03 b. 3), which “dictates that lacking juveniles are investigated as runaways except there are circumstances which seem as involuntary comparable to a kidnapping or abduction.”

“My daughter was lacking in Dallas, it is a Dallas case, however they refused to open a case for her,” the lady’s father stated.

The lady was lacking for 10 days till authorities discovered her at an Prolonged Keep America resort in Oklahoma Metropolis on April 18. She attended the sport along with her father and didn’t return to her seat after going to the lavatory.

“We’re grateful for the work of the Oklahoma Metropolis Police Division and the restoration of our daughter. My coronary heart breaks for the unimaginable issues my daughter needed to endure for the 11 days she was taken, and I’m so glad she is secure as we work towards her restoration,” the lady’s mom stated in a Could 5 assertion.

Teenage lady vanishes from Dallas Mavericks recreation

The Oklahoma Metropolis Police Division arrested Saniya Alexander, Melissa Wheeler, Chevaun Gibson, Kenneth Nelson, Sarah Hayes, Karen Gonzales, Thalia Gibson and Steven Hill in connection to the Dallas trafficking case. Hill is charged with rape; Gibson is charged with providing to have interaction in prostitution; Nelson, Hayes and Gonzales are charged with human trafficking and distribution of kid pornography; Wheeler has a theft warrant; and Gibson and Alexander have felony warrants.

As a result of ineptitude of Dallas police, the lacking lady’s dad and mom sought the assistance of Texas Counter-Trafficking Initiative (TXCTI) — a nonprofit dealing with Texas trafficking circumstances — to assist them find their daughter. The group tracked down specific footage of the sufferer on a prostitution web site.

The household’s lawyer, Zeke Fortenberry, stated in a press launch that a number of events are answerable for the trafficking of the younger lady, together with Dallas police. Fortenberry claims that the person who lured the lady away from the world could have bought a faux ticket and stated he used a faux identification on the resort in Oklahoma.

“The techniques and organizations concerned on this case frequently failed the sufferer. She ought to by no means have had contact with the person on the Mavericks recreation. The Dallas Police ought to have labored rapidly to research leads and find {the teenager} earlier than she was trafficked to Oklahoma,” Fortenberry stated in a press release. “The Prolonged Keep America resort in Oklahoma Metropolis put income forward of individuals by turning a blind eye to the sexual exploitation occurring proper earlier than their eyes. This sufferer’s life will perpetually be modified. We hope to carry accountable these accountable and create change inside these organizations in order that this by no means occurs to some other youngster.”