One year after Dallas Police say they recovered a missing 15-year-old girl near downtown, the man accused of trafficking her has been indicted by a Dallas County grand jury.
Marlon John Theodore Brown is charged with the continuous tracking of a minor and engaging in criminal activity.
In arrest warrant affidavits, police said he advertised the then 14-year-old, reported missing from her Bastrop County home in 2019, on several commercial sex websites across Texas and Oklahoma.
They said he transported her and several adult women to hotels and Airbnbs, which were reserved in his name dozens of times for prostitution.
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According to police, a tip from a man who was buying sex and recognized the teen as a missing child eventually led them to the teen and Brown.
“This happens all the time,” said survivor Sophia Strother Lewis.
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Lewis, who was trafficked by her mother, said it can happen anywhere and look like a lot of things.
"When you see individuals that won't look in your eyes, they're looking down at the ground. You can have somebody have everything they need. They're getting somebody else to pay for it. So there are different signs that once you see it, you should say something,” she said.
It’s a reminder the billboard campaign’s cosponsor, anti-slavery group A21, along with other advocates hope can put more people like Brown behind bars.
