DALLAS — The attorney representing the family of a teenage girl who was lured into a sex trafficking operation is suing the parent companies of the hotel where she was trafficked and assaulted.
The girl, who was 15 at the time, was recovered by police in Oklahoma City in April 2022 after being reported missing from the American Airlines Center where she had been watching a Dallas Mavericks game with her father. She went to the restroom during the game and never came back to her seat. Oklahoma City Police recovered her a week and a half later.
OKCPD's investigation found that the girl had been trafficked at the Extended Stay America hotel located at the Oklahoma City Airport. The lawsuit claims that people working at the hotel "either failed to recognize the signs of human trafficking or chose to turn a blind eye and ignore what was happening to [the teen]. and never made any report of human trafficking."
The lawsuit claims that surveillance video from the hotel showed the teen was in a room at the hotel with 44-year-old Kenneth Nelson, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in Oklahoma after pleading guilty to felony charges there of manufacturing child pornography, distributing child pornography, child abuse and human trafficking concerning this case.
The suit also claims that surveillance video shows the teen entering multiple rooms that were rented in Nelson's name, that the girl was seen "under the influence of a controlled substance and staggering up and down" the hallway of the hotel and that on "more than one occasion" a man "with an AK-47 style assault rifle" could be seen walking up and down the hallway.
There was also an instance, according to the lawsuit, where the girl entered the hotel "visibly upset and crying" after "being forced to perform a sexual act with a John in a vacant lot" next to the hotel. The suit claims the teen was met by a male hotel employee and two men who worked with Nelson.
The suit states "Nelson's two acquaintances escorted her back to a hotel room and the Defendant Hotel Manager's employee did nothing to help [the teen] and returned to work behind the front desk."
"Prior to [the teen] being trafficked at ESA OKC Hotel, Defendant ESA Corporate knew that sex trafficking was occurring at its corporately owned and affiliated hotel properties," the suit states.
The civil suit, filed Monday in Dallas County, names multiple corporations and entities as defendants including ESH Strategies Franchise LLC and Extended Stay America, Inc which make up "Defendant ESA Corporate."
Also named in the lawsuit is Dallas-based Provident Hospitality Holdings LLC and its subsidiaries, whose website says is the second largest franchisee owner of Extended Stay America hotels with locations in Texas and Oklahoma. Aimbridge Hospitality, a Plano-based hotel management firm, is also named in the suit. According to the lawsuit, Provident Hospitality owns the Extended Stay America hotel at the Oklahoma City Airport, and Aimbridge Hospitality is responsible for managing it.
The suit claims that "all Defendants chose to turn a blind eye to the crimes and trafficking going on at the ESA OKC Hotel, and chose to put profits over people like [the teen]."
The suit refers to multiple other sex trafficking lawsuits that have been filed against the parent companies of Extended Stay America, including one filed in Dallas in 2020.
A spokesperson for Aimbridge Hospitality, in a statement, said, "Due to ongoing litigation, we're unable to provide any information as it pertains to the case.”
WFAA is still waiting for responses from Provident Hospitality Holdings and Extended Stay America to requests for comment for this story.
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