Karen Gonzales was arrested along with seven other criminals who had kidnapped the minor.
Photo: Oklahoma City Police Department/Courtesy
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A 15-year-old girl from Texas was able to return home after being trafficked after attending a Dallas Mavericks game on April 8 at the American Airlines Center (AAC). There are eight arrested in this case.
According to a press release from his family’s attorney, Zeke Fortenberry of the Fortenberry Firm, PLLC, The minor went to the bathroom while attending the game with her father and never returned.
The whereabouts of the victim were not known for 10 days, until the authorities she was located at an Extended Stay America hotel in Oklahoma City on April 18.
Gonzales is accused of human trafficking
Saniya Alexander, Melissa Wheeler, Chevaun Gibson, Kenneth Nelson, Sarah Hayes, Karen Gonzales, Thalia Gibson and Steven Hill were arrested for the Oklahoma City Police Department in connection with the traffic case.
Gibson is accused of offering to engage in prostitution; Nelson, Hayes and Gonzales are charged with human trafficking and distribution of child pornography; Hill is accused of rape; Gibson and Alexander have felony warrants; and Wheeler has a burglary warrant.
“We are grateful for the work of the Oklahoma City Police Department and the recovery of our daughter. My heart breaks for the unimaginable things my daughter had to endure. during the 11 days she was taken away, and I am so glad she is safe as we work toward her recovery,” the victim’s mother said in a statement on May 5.
The father of the minor alerted the authorities.
After the teen left to use the bathroom at the AAC and did not return, his father “immediately notified security, staff and Dallas police officers of her disappearance.” When the game ended, she was “not found” and her father was instructed to return home.
Fortenberry says the Dallas Police Department (DPD) never opened an investigation into the case despite multiple pleas from the victim’s parents.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, DPD said an officer at the April 8 Mavericks game was notified of the disappearance. of the 15-year-old and recorded the event and venue that night.
Beyond that, the department pointed to the Texas Family Code (51.03 b. 3), which “dictates that missing children are investigated as fugitives unless there are circumstances that appear unintentional, such as a kidnapping or kidnapping.”
The victim was listed on a prostitution website
“Those code cases must be filed where the minor resides,” the department said. “Dallas Police generated a report and Dallas Police assisted the North Richland Hills Police Department (lead agency as that was where the teen resided) and a bulletin regarding the missing teen was created and sent to the department on April 11, 2022“.
Posteriorly, the victim’s parents searched for a non-profit organization that handles human trafficking cases in Texas called the Texas Counter-Trafficking Initiative (TXCTI) to help them locate their daughter.
The organization was able to trace explicit images of the victim on a prostitution website from Oklahoma City.
The teenager’s relatives are demanding answers as to why DPD and AAC did not do more to help locate the girl when she disappeared.
They also demand a response from Extended Stay America, which, according to Fortenberry, did not implement security protocols to protect the girl from a registered sex offender who used a false name and an identification card to rent rooms at the hotel chain’s location in Oklahoma City.
As if that were not enough, Fortenberry indicated in the statement that a fraudulent ticket seller known to the AAC and the Mavericks may have sold a false ticket to a male suspect who allegedly lured the victim from the sports center.
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