OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal grand jury here has indicted two Lawtonians with sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion; and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester announced last Thursday.
Charged are Jackie Antonio Duncan, also known as “D,” 35, and Nia Hall, a/k/a “Karmella,” 30.
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 female minors – 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 motel 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 she 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 return, the juveniles were provided food and shelter.
Jane Doe #1 told authorities she had recently escaped from Hall and Duncan’s car while those two were physically fighting in the Dallas area.
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 minor girls.
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 If convicted, they face up to life in federal prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each count.
Oklahoma and Texas law enforcement officers inadvertently missed two opportunities to arrest Duncan and Hall last July, according to information the BIA special agent wrote in his affidavit.
A Fort Worth police officer found three females “suspected of engaging in prostitution” on July 2, 2024, but ultimately released them from custody. “A review of body camera footage from this encounter showed that the officer had encountered Hall” and Jane Does #1 and #2.
Two weeks later, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper stopped Duncan and Hall on the Turner Turnpike southwest of Tulsa. Hall told the trooper they were en route to Tulsa for a court hearing.
The sex trafficking case is the result of a multijurisdictional investigation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office, Lawton Police Department, Choctaw Nation’s Lighthorse Police Department, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, Fort Smith Police Department, Arkansas State Police, San Antonio Police Department, Plano Police Department, and Fort Worth Police Department.