Mississippi woman accused of trafficking in Fort Worth; 16-year-old girl rescued
A Mississippi woman accused of trafficking a teenage girl in Fort Worth remained in custody on Tuesday, according to jail records.
A 16-year-old girl was rescued by authorities.
Madison Mia Murphy, 20, was arrested on June 24 and faces charges of trafficking a person under 18 and compelling prostitution by force/threat, according to Tarrant County Jail records..
Murphy could face federal charges in the case, Fort Worth police said Tuesday.
“Due to the ongoing investigation, information that we can provide is limited at this time,” said Officer Brad Perez, a Fort Worth Police Department spokesman, in a Tuesday email.
Fort Worth police provided no other details on Murphy’s arrest or the investigation.
Information on where the 16-year-old has been taken also was not available.
In Texas, there are more than 79,000 victims of youth and minor sex trafficking in Texas at any given time, according to statistics from the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
Last summer, the Dallas/Fort Worth area recorded one of the highest numbers of child trafficking victims encountered in a completed month-long operation across the nation, according to FBI officials.
This area was second behind Las Vegas in Operation Independence Day, a campaign by law enforcement agencies that targeted sex traffickers and the recovery of child victims.
Las Vegas encountered 14 children in July 2019. The DFW area had nine identified and recovered child victims during the operation in July 2019.
Murphy was in the Tarrant County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of $400,000 bond.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 10:54 AM.
