North Texas sex trafficking case closed without arrest
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas) - Nearly 20 months has passed since a North Texas girl disappeared from a Mavericks game, only to be found days later with sex traffickers.
Now the girl's parents say, in a phone call yesterday, they learned the case is closed with no arrests in Texas.
And, they say the latest news sends the wrong message to sex trafficking victims.
"What has happened with this case falls in the direct narrative of the Me Too (campaign,) 'Am I believed,' all the things that victims feel," said Brooke Morris.
She and husband Kyle Morris are speaking out for their daughter and all human trafficking victims after hearing the latest development.
The Morris family was hoping Dallas County would re-present the case after learning in late October the Dallas County Grand Jury issued a no bill to a man charged with sexual assault of their daughter.
The parents say surveillance video showed him and another man walking and talking with the teenager on April 8, 2022, at a Dallas mavericks home game. They say the then 15-year-old was lured out of the building that night, sexually assaulted, and found two weeks later in the arms of sex traffickers in Oklahoma.
Over the last year, Oklahoma had several arrests and convictions for those involved there. But now that won't happen in Dallas county.
"She was never even afforded the opportunity to tell her story to the people who could pursue it on the law enforcement side," said Kyle Morris explaining how much his daughter wanted to be heard. "She wanted to, and she was told she would be given that opportunity to speak with the prosecutor."
The parents recently met with Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot saying his office never "substantively interviewed" their daughter, never "reviewed her medical records," never "presented the grand jury with an option to indict for human trafficking." And they say the county never read through "thousands of pages of therapy notes" where their daughter described the "sexual abuse and trafficking that occurred in Dallas, Texas."
"They chose not to present those to the grand jury," said the family attorney Zeke Fortenberry.
He says the county has given them no excuses. "None. They have the discretion. They're the ultimate decision makers in Dallas County."
Following up to their meeting with Creuzot, Fortenberry and the Morris family say they received a phone call from Dallas County on Monday stating the investigation is over.
They say they are now talking to the FBI and Homeland Security in hopes of pursuing federal charges in Dallas.
Statement from Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot:
"Following the Grand Jury's decision, we met with the family and Mr. Fortenberry to hear and review their concerns. Since that meeting, this office reviewed all of the evidence that was presented to the Grand Jury, and we are confident that any possible criminal offenses were presented. By law, the Grand Jury deliberates in secret. Per office policy, we did not make a recommendation to the Grand Jury, and we will respect their decision."
