Girl, 15, Forced to Work at Southlake Restaurant to Pay $10,000 Smuggling Debt: Sheriff

[Judi Lynn]

By Scott Gordon
Published Sep 10, 2019 at 4:22 PM | Updated 14 minutes ago

A 15-year-old Guatemalan girl was rescued after she was forced to work the night shift at a Southlake fast food restaurant to pay off a $10,000 debt to her smugglers, authorities said Tuesday.

"We are going to protect her and nobody is going to hurt her and I got to tell you, in a cop's life, that's a big deal," Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said. "That's a pretty big day."

Officers with the sheriff's human trafficking unit arrested Cesar Valdez-Perez, 36, who faces charges of child trafficking and forging government documents.

"He initially wanted to claim that he was the father," Waybourn said. "We suspect he is not. We suspect he's part of something bigger."

More:
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Trafficked-Teen-Victim-of-Forced-Labor-Rescued-by-Tarrant-County-Sheriffs-Office-Southlake-Police-559964741.html

[TexasTowelie]

1. Particularly egregious

since Southlake is listed as one of the richest cities in Texas.