Trafficking Unit Chief Soni Lewis said familial trafficking is common, making up about one-third of trafficking cases.
DALLAS — The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office’s newly formed human trafficking unit is celebrating its first two convictions just months after its January launch.
“Human trafficking is an extremely complicated and complex type of case to not only investigate, but also to prosecute, and then also offer services to our victims,” Administrative Chief Amy Derrick said. “In an effort to address all of those complicated, complex issues, we really needed to have a dedicated unit with people who are doing nothing else but working on these types of cases.”
The unit was formed with funding from a grant from the Office of the Governor and is made up of a prosecutor, an investigator and a victim advocate whose sole focus is seeking justice and healing for survivors of human trafficking in Dallas County.
Last month, the unit prosecuted a case against 33-year-old Karen Villegas. According to court records, Villegas forced her teenage stepdaughter into prostitution and kept the money. Records state she would organize “dates” between her stepdaughter and adult men. During which, men would pay for sex acts from the teen in their home, and on many occasions she would drive the child to other locations to meet with adult men and would either wait outside or drop her off.
The child reportedly told investigators she was forced to do things she didn’t want to do and that Villegas “needed” the money for drugs and rent.
“It is a typical familial trafficking case,” Trafficking Unit Chief Soni Lewis said. “It was stepmom. Dad was in the home. Dad, we believe knew about it but we can’t prove that he knew. This was a very young girl. She started prostituting her at around 13 or 14, which is the age most kids are trafficked,”
Lewis said familial trafficking is common, making up about one-third of trafficking cases.
“Usually, it is the maternal role that is the trafficker,” Lewis said. “It is not uncommon. It’s just uncommon for us a society because we really don’t know all of the intricacies of human trafficking.”
Villegas was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“This highlights the issues and struggles we have prosecuting these cases,” Derrick said. “It’s the stereotypes that our society holds as to what these cases look like and the biases that people bring into the courtroom.”
Weeks after Villegas’s conviction, Lewis and her team brought a case against 23-year-old Obed Mengistu. Court records state investigators linked Mengistu’s cellphone to sexual ads that had been posted online featuring sexually explicit photos of a child who had been reported missing.
The victim in the case gave birth to Mengistu’s child before the trial and testified on his behalf.
Dallas County jurors took less than an hour to find him guilty of trafficking a child and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
Another challenge in prosecuting these cases, Lewis said, is working with survivors, who have often suffered years of trauma and manipulation.
“They are hiding in plain sight. A lot of them are vulnerable young teens, and lot of them seem unbelievable and they are actually the perfect targets because traffickers know a lot of them feel like no one will believe them,” Lewis said. “They don’t come forward…they’re reluctant to participate in prosecutions.”
In the Mengistu case, prosecutors were able to call another survivor to testify to the signs and indicators of trafficking despite the victim not cooperating. In the Villegas case, a tip from the victim’s sibling to a school counselor who took the outcry seriously ultimately led to the investigation. Both cases showcase the importance of education, awareness and community-involvement.
Dallas County’s unit works with local and federal law enforcement agencies, including the North Texas Trafficking Task Force, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that specialize in offering resources and care to survivors. They said partnership and collaboration are their superpower.
These initial prosecutions are victories that Lewis and Derrick hope will lead to more resources for continued success.
“I hope that we’re going to expand,” Derrick said. “We need people, and I think all of our law enforcement partners and probably the NGOs would say the same.”
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