2 men accused of trafficking teen girls for sex at Dallas hotel

alyssag GOOD POLICING CATCHES SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS, HUMAN TRAFFICKING, RUNAWAYS, SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS APPREHENDED, STINGS, TRAFFICKING CHILDREN, WORST OF THE WORST

LaDarius Alton Smith, 33, and Ulises Rene Garcia, 22, were each indicted Tuesday on two counts of sex trafficking of a child. Their attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On April 12, agents with the North Texas Trafficking Task Force were notified by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services about a runaway juvenile. The 16-year-old girl was seen on a website that advertises commercial sex, according to court documents.

An undercover agent contacted Smith and arranged to meet the girl that evening for sex at a hotel in northwest Dallas, according to court documents.

Authorities began to surveil the hotel and became aware of another girl. That girl, who is 17, lost her hotel key and authorities saw Garcia give her a new one, officials wrote in a criminal complaint

An undercover agent spoke to Smith at the hotel and arranged to meet both girls in a room later that evening for $400. Later that day, agents saw Smith arrive at the hotel with a third girl, also 17, according to court documents.

Eventually, authorities saw the two 17-year-olds standing with Garcia and placed him under arrest. The 16-year-old was taken out of the hotel room Garcia was staying in, according to court documents.

During a search of Garcia’s room, investigators found a high school schedule for one of the girls and clothing worn by another girl in an online advertisement, court documents say.

During an interview with authorities, the third girl said she posted the online advertisements and had reached that agreement with Smith in exchange for no longer having to engage in commercial sex, court documents say.

The third girl said she had been with Smith for about two months and had contacted the first two girls, who traveled from Wichita Falls, according to court documents.

During an interview with police, Garcia told investigators he knew Smith had engaged in prostitution before, and that when he saw the three girls he assumed Smith was having them perform commercial sex. He said he didn’t know how old the girls were, but that they had “baby faces,” court documents say.

Each man faces up to life in prison if convicted.