HOUSTON – A Conroe man was charged with sex trafficking Wednesday in connection with the case of a Houston 13-year-old who had previously been reported missing.
On Thursday, the minor, who was reported missing on Sept. 21, entered a Houston police station and was later taken to an area hospital for an evaluation, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Houston Division, which began investigating the case on Sept. 30.
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The FBI arrested Sha Kendrick Edward Smith, 22, in Montgomery County on Wednesday in connection with the missing minor.
Records show Smith has a criminal record. He was convicted of unlawfully carrying a weapon in 2020.
Smith is charged with sex trafficking in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to the Oct. 6 charging document issued to initiate criminal charges against Smith.
The document details the sex trafficking charge against Smith and the factual basis for the charge.
In late September the 13-year-old minor ran away and was believed to be with a pimp known at the time only as Kendrick. Investigators believed Kendrick, later identified as Smith, was causing the minor to engage in commercial sex, according to the charging document.
RELATED: Amber Alert for missing 13-year-old girl last seen in northeast Houston on Sept. 20 discontinued
The minor was previously reported as a runaway on Sept. 8 and returned to her residential facility on Sept. 20 with a phone, which she stated had been given to her by her pimp Kendrick, the charging document reads. The facility contacted the Houston Police Department and the minor was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital for an exam conducted by a sexual assault nurse examiner. Houston police retained the phone as evidence.
Between Sept. 8 and Sept. 20, while a runaway, the minor contacted a court appointed special advocate via the phone Kendrick had given her, the court document states. During the conversation, the minor said she and Kendrick had sexual relations and at some point Kendrick caused her to engage in commercial sex. She stated Kendrick lived with his mother so he took the minor to a nearby trailer park where she engaged in commercial sex.
The minor said she lied to Kendrick about her age, stating she was 18, according to the charging document. She added that she was allowed in Kendrick’s mother’s house during the day but was not allowed to sleep inside. She slept in a car parked in the driveway of the home.
In an HPD police report, the minor stated that she met Kendrick after running away on Sept. 8, according to the charging document. Kendrick offered to help her make money by engaging in commercial sex. Kendrick took the minor to multiple locations, including at trailer park in the Woodlands. Between Sept. 8 and Sept. 20, the minor engaged in commercial sex with approximately eight men. Kendrick charged each man $70 to $100, according to the charging document.
During the execution of a federal search warrant on the Smith’s mother’s home, located in the 9300 block of Bimms Drive in Conroe, FBI investigators confirmed the minor had again been there with Sha Kendrick Edward Smith. The woman told investigators she last saw the minor when her fiancé drove the 13-year-old to a parking lot in northeast Houston on an unknown date and left here there, according to the charging document.