DALLAS - A civil lawsuit filed by the Fortenberry Firm in Dallas County asserts claims of sex trafficking on behalf of a 15-year-old girl who disappeared from a Dallas Mavericks basketball game on April 8, 2022, a press release states.
According to the suit, the teenage girl was drugged and taken to Oklahoma City where she was handed over to a registered sex offender and pimp at an Extended Stay America hotel.
The suit details that prior to the teenage victim's arrival, there were multiple online reviews of the hotel complaining of pimps, prostitutes, hookers, and sexual activity in the parking lot. Additionally, there were several police reports of sexually oriented crimes at the hotel.
The Oklahoma City hotel has ties to Texas as it is owned by Dallas-based real estate investment firm Provident Realty Advisors and is managed and operated by the Plano-based global hospitality company Aimbridge.
According to the suit, at the hotel, the victim was advertised online for sex and forced into prostitution under the control of a pimp. On one occasion, a hotel employee saw the 15-year-old victim crying in the lobby while two adult men escorted her to their room and yet did nothing. Other times, men patrolled the hotel hallway with an AK-47 style assault rifle.
On April 18, 2022, Oklahoma City Police successfully rescued the teenage victim and made arrests. The pimp and his accomplices were charged with human trafficking and related offenses and have pleaded guilty and are serving prison sentences.
The victim is represented by trial attorney Zeke Fortenberry. Fortenberry served for several years as an Assistant District Attorney specializing in the prosecution of sexual crimes before founding the Fortenberry Firm – a civil litigation boutique focused on representing victims.
"Now that the pimp is in prison, this lawsuit will prove that the corporate entities knowingly benefited from the trafficking,” Fortenberry said. “In Texas, we have some of the strongest civil laws to hold trafficking defendants accountable, and we plan to do just that."
Fortenberry says the lawsuit aims to prove that the tragic situation was preventable if the hotel had properly trained employees to identify and report traffickers. Instead, hotel employees, allegedly, ignored the red flags indicating sex trafficking and accepted the pimp's cash payments for multiple hotel rooms day after day.
"Companies like Extended Stay America, Provident Realty, and Aimbridge Hospitality all put profits over people, and that is unacceptable." said Fortenberry.