Rockwall Police Arrest Four On Charges Related To Sex Trafficking
ROCKWALL (1080 KRLD) - A couple from Denton tried to sell a 14-year-old girl to a family in Elgin, Illinois, an affidavit for arrest warrants say. The documents say Steven Marks and Lila Miller were wired $8,600 of the $17,500 negotiated price. When the final amount was not paid, the couple drove the girl back to Texas.
The Department of Public Safety affidavits were released by the Rockwall District Attorney's office today as part of an open records request. Four have been arrested. Marks was booked on an outstanding warrant for making a false report. Miller, Davy Marks and Dorothy Marks were all booked on charges of interference with child custody.
According to the affidavits, Steven Marks, the biological father of the girl, had "negotiated and sold the child to a family in Elgin, Illinois." The documents say the child was "knowingly sold so that the child would engage in sex acts and be involved in a Common-Law marriage to a male subject believed to be abaout three years older than the child." The affidavit says Steven Marks and Miller drove to Elgin but took the girl home after the family only paid $8,600 and did not pay the remaining balance. The document says Marks then tried to negotiate a new deal to "sell the child to another family in Florida."
Elgin is located in the Chicago area. The documents do not give the Florida location.
The document says investigators had prior information that the girl was being harbored "somewhere in the vicinity of Rockwall, TX."
Officials say the four appeared to make an effort to stay one step ahead of the police. While DPS agents were interviewing suspects, a phone call was made to a residence in Mesquite warning that investigators were on the way. The affidavits say Miller, Marks and the girl left the home just before police arrived, but the girl managed to escape the couple and went to a nearby McDonalds where she called for help.
The document says Dorothy Marks and Lila Miller reside at that Mesquite residence.
The Texas Department of Family Protective Services has confirmed it has custody of the 14-year-old and five other juveniles. "They range in age from, as young as 3 years of age to 14 years of age," said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for FPS.
The Texas Department of Public Safety confirms the arrests but is declining comment on grounds that the investigation is ongoing.