OKLAHOMA CITY – A Lawton couple indicted by a federal grand jury here pleaded guilty for their roles in prostituting two underage girls.
Nia Hall, also known as “Karmella,” 30, pleaded May 19 to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. She admitted knowingly working with Jackie Antonio Duncan, a/k/a “D,” 35, to recruit and transport juveniles for purposes of commercial sex acts.
Duncan pleaded guilty April 30 to sex tr afficking of children. He admitted he knowingly recruited two females under the age of 18 to cause them to engage in commercial sex acts, and that he aided and abetted Hall to do the same.
At sentencing, Duncan faces at least 10 years in federal prison, both face up to life in federal prison, and both face fines of up to $250,000.
Southwest Ledger first reported the indictments on Feb. 4.
Five months before his federal indictment, Duncan pleaded guilty in Tulsa County District Court to a felony state charge of procuring for prostitution and received a three-year suspended sentence.
A special agent with Bureau of Indian Affairs, Drug Enforcement Division, filed an affidavit in which he reported that in May 2024, two females – both under the age of 18 and one of whom is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma – ran away from a juvenile group home in Lawton and were entered into law enforcement databases as missing juveniles.
Multiple law enforcement agencies reportedly began investigating “the sex trafficking” of the two girls “across state lines.”
One of the girls, “Jane Doe #1,” age 15, was located by officers with the Plano Police Department on July 16, 2024, at a mo tel in Collin County, Texas, where she disclosed that she and the other missing girl, “Jane Doe #2,” had been sex-trafficked.
Jane Doe #1 told officers that after she and Jane Doe #2 fled the group home in Lawton, they spent the night in a Lawton park and then went to a nearby gas station, where they were approached by two people later identified as Hall and Duncan.
Jane Doe #1 said s he and her companion began living with Hall and Duncan, who soon after transported the girls to various cities in Texas – including Amarillo, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio – to engage in prostitution. Hall and Duncan kept the money and used it to buy drugs, Jane Doe #1 said; in r eturn, the juveniles were provided food and shelter.
Jane Doe #2 was found and rescued in San Antonio on Sept. 30, 2024, after she called law enforcement officers “and indicated she was a missing person,” the special agent reported. Jane Doe #2 recounted a similar story of being sex-trafficked by Hall and Duncan in exchange for food and shelter. During the investigation, local and federal law enforcement reviewed sex advertisements associated with Hall. These advertisements contained photos of the minors.
Hall and Duncan were arrested on Dec. 16, 2024, and the federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against the two on Jan. 21.
Oklahoma and Texas law enforcement officers inadvertently missed two opportunities to arrest Duncan and Hall last July – in Fort Worth and on the Turner Turnpike – according to information the BIA special agent wrote in his affidavit.