More details emerge in trafficking case
Texarkana man is accused of paying five teen girls for sex using drugs, cash
A Texarkana man facing human trafficking charges in Bowie County allegedly traded drugs and cash for sex with five different teen girls.
Kenneth Dewayne Nelson, 63, was free on a $150,000 surety bond set in a pending child sex abuse case when he was arrested Thursday on five counts of continuous trafficking of persons. Nelson was arrested for alleged sexual assault of a child June 30, 2016, for misconduct alleged in a probable cause affidavit concerning “child victim number one” in the trafficking case.
Affidavits in the trafficking case used to create the following account allege Nelson began having sex with 15-yearold “victim number one” in October 2014. Nelson allegedly gained the girl’s trust by first buying her a shirt and a hat. The girl said she and other girls, identified in affidavits as “victim number three” and “victim number four” often rode together with Nelson in his black sedan to Nelson’s “trap house” in the 1300 block of Lee Street in Texarkana, Texas.
The first alleged victim told investigators and a forensic interviewer at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Texarkana that she began having sex with Nelson about twice a week in exchange for marijuana and Xanax but that the frequency of the sexual assaults increased once she became addicted to methamphetamine, which Nelson would provide her every other day. Phone records allegedly show Nelson and “victim number one” had more than 1,200 phone contacts between Nov. 30, 2014, and May 2016.
Alleged “victim number two” gave an account similar to that of the first alleged victim. She claimed Nelson first gave her marijuana for exposing her breasts to him as they rode in his car when she was 16. She reported that, like the first alleged victim, Nelson gave her methamphetamine in exchange for sex and that she became addicted to the illicit drug.
Alleged “victim number three,” like the other alleged victims, reported that she received marijuana, Xanax and cash in exchange for sex with Nelson at a house he owned in the 1300 block of Lee Street beginning in 2014 when she was 15. Alleged “victim number four” reported that she began buying marijuana from Nelson in 2013 when she was 13 years old.
The fourth alleged victim said she refused Nelson’s offers to trade sex for drugs until she was 14. She reported having sex multiple times with Nelson
Nelson at the Lee Street house in exchange for drugs when she was 14 and 15 years old.
Alleged “victim number five,” reported that Nelson provided her and other alleged victims with alcohol, marijuana, hydrocodone or methamphetamine in exchange for sex. The fifth alleged victim reported the alleged sexual assaults began when she was 14 and continued until she was 17.
The victims alleged Nelson would have sex with one in the back seat of his car while another victim waited in the front or that he would have sex with one victim in a bedroom of the Lee Street house while another waited in a different room.
Following his arrest last week on the trafficking charges, Justice of the Peace Nancy Talley set bail on each of the five counts at $250,000 cash, meaning Nelson must pay $1.25 million to effect his release. Nelson had been appearing regularly before 5th District Judge Bill Miller for pre-indictment hearings related to his 2016 arrest for sexual assault of a child.
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Sylvia Jennings said last week that the trafficking charges against Nelson are the result of a joint investigation between DPS, FBI and Texarkana, Texas, police which began eight months ago.
The case has not yet been presented to a grand jury for formal indictment. Nelson is currently being held in the Bowie County jail.
llarowe@texarkanagazette.com