Eight people have been arrested in Oklahoma in connection with the report of a missing 15-year-old girl from North Richland Hills police now say was being trafficked for sex.
Investigators in North Richland Hills confirmed to NBC 5 Tuesday the girl attended a Dallas Mavericks game on April 8 and that after getting up from her seat to use the restroom alone she never returned. Police said surveillance video showed the teen leaving the arena with an unknown man. Investigators later determined she had been taken to Oklahoma City and was believed to be in danger.
KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City picked up the story on the missing girl and shared her photos, which police said led to a viewer tip that she had been seen in an apartment complex.
Police followed up on the lead and found the missing teenager. Eight people were arrested, including Kenneth Nelson, Sarah Hayes, and Karen Gonzales, all of whom were all charged with human trafficking and the distribution of child pornography. The other five people were arrested on either outstanding warrants, rape, or prostitution charges. Details of those arrests are below.
Saniya Alexander (Felony Warrant)Melissa Wheeler (Robbery Warrant)Chevaun Gibsion (Offering to Engage – Prostitution)Thalia Gibson (Felony Warrant)Steven Hill (Rape II)
Eight people have been arrested in Oklahoma Monday, April 18, 2022, in connection with the report of a missing 15-year-old girl from North Richland Hills. Top row left to right: Karen Gonzales, Sarah Hayes, and Kenneth Nelson. Bottom row left to right: Melissa Wheeler, Thalia Gibson and Steven Hill. Mugshots not yet obtained for Chevaun Gibsion and Saniya Alexander.
Officials in Oklahoma said Tuesday the teenager was not kidnapped from the American Airlines Center in Dallas but they did not reveal any other information about the man she left with or how she knew him. They did say that they believe she left Texas with two men and was being trafficked to Oklahoma City for sex.
Because the teen is both underage and an apparent victim of sex trafficking her name and photograph have been withheld from this story.
