15-Year-Old Teen Goes Missing From Dallas Mavericks Game— Is Rescued Over a Week Later From Sex Trafficking Ring

Posted on May 31, 2022
Jessica Sausto

It’s a parents’ worst nightmare. A Texas dad took his daughter to an NBA game at the American Airlines Center. But after she went to the restroom, she never returned. Thankfully that wasn’t the end of the story. The 15-year-old teen missing from Dallas Mavericks game was found by a counter-trafficking initiative after multiple agencies failed to find her.

15-Year-Old Teen Taken by Traffickers at an NBA Game

For this family, it might’ve started like a normal Friday. The father-daughter duo went to an NBA game on April 8, 2022 and took in nearly the entire first half of the game as they might have any other time. But things changed in the blink of an eye. The 15-year-old teen left her seat next to her father to use the restroom before halftime at the Dallas Mavericks basketball game. And she never returned.

After a reasonable amount of time had past, the father was understandably alerted; so he told security, and they searched the entire arena.

Multiple Agencies Couldn’t Find Teen Missing From Dallas Mavericks Game

The American Airlines Center security team were unable to find the teen missing from Dallas Mavericks game, but the surveillance recordings showed the 15-year-old leaving the arena with an unidentified man.

According to the arena team, the man, who appeared to be in his 40s, had gotten into the game using a counterfeit ticket. The security team told the distressed father to go home.

Become A Contributor

Unfortunately, the American Airlines Center security team was only the first of multiple agencies that failed to find the teen missing from Dallas Mavericks game.

The father contacted the Dallas Police Department for help. However, because they marked the 15-year-old as a runaway, they told the father to work with his hometown police, the North Richland Hills Police Department.

After 10 days had passed, none of the agencies involved had been able to find the girl.

In the meantime, the teen girl was taken out of Texas by human traffickers.