SAN ANTONIO (AP) 鈥 Irma Reyes鈥 mind raced as her husband drove through the predawn darkness toward a courthouse hundreds of miles from home: Don鈥檛 they know my daughter matters?
Reyes had been barely able to eat since she heard that Texas prosecutors planned to let the two men charged with sex trafficking her daughter walk free. She was going to court to try to stop them.
Reyes鈥 daughter was 16 in 2017, when men she knew only as 鈥淩ocky鈥 and 鈥淏lue鈥 kept her and another girl at a San Antonio motel where men paid to have sex with them. Now, the cases against Rakim Sharkey and Elijah Teel 鈥 who police identified as the traffickers 鈥 have seen years of delay, a parade of prosecutors, an aborted trial and, ultimately, a stark retreat by the government.
They are among thousands of cases under a at the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has risen to national prominence fighting court battles that affect people nationwide even while facing legal troubles including a by officials. Trafficking cases in particular have cast doubt on how the agency uses millions of state tax dollars on an issue that Republican leaders trumpet as a priority while attacking Democrats鈥 approach to border security.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general鈥檚 office, Kristen House, declined to answer questions for this story.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like a nightmare that I can鈥檛 wake up from,鈥 Reyes said.
At the courthouse in January, Reyes鈥 stomach churned as she thought of the deal for the two men: five years of probation. The original charges carried potential sentences of decades in prison.
鈥淵ou will not find a stronger corroborated case,鈥 said Kirsta Leeburg Melton, who oversaw the attorney general鈥檚 human trafficking unit until late 2019. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 sick. It鈥檚 wrong.鈥
In court, Reyes listened as the judge summarized the cases' twists and turns: years lost to the pandemic, delays due to 鈥渢urnover in the attorney general鈥檚 office,鈥 days of testimony last year only for several people to catch COVID-19 and prompt a mistrial.
She listened in disbelief as the new prosecutor told the judge that Reyes鈥 daughter was 鈥渙n the run.鈥 Now 22, the young woman left home after a fight, Reyes said, but they keep up a steady stream of text messages.
Then, Sharkey and Teel pleaded 鈥渘o contest鈥 to aggravated promotion of prostitution. The judge, Velia Meza, sentenced the men to seven years of probation, despite prosecutors recommending five, noting they wouldn鈥檛 have to register as sex offenders.
Reyes thought of her daughter as she approached the front of the courtroom to make a victim鈥檚 impact statement.
The AP is withholding the young woman鈥檚 name, in keeping with its policy to avoid identifying victims of sexual assault and other such crimes. Reyes told AP she spoke about this story with her daughter, who did not want to comment or be interviewed directly.
Reyes said that as a girl, her daughter was bullied and would run away from home. By her teens, she started using drugs, and in 2017 she was sent to a rehabilitation center.
Court records show it was only days after Reyes鈥 daughter and another girl ran away from rehab that their photos were advertised online for 鈥渄ates." They met 鈥淏lue鈥 outside a motel, where they couldn鈥檛 afford a night鈥檚 stay. He introduced them to 鈥淩ocky.鈥 The pair rented the girls a room, helped set up meetings with men who鈥檇 pay for sex, and collected half the money, according to the records.
Reyes daughter later testified at trial that police found them after she got scared and called her mom because 鈥淩ocky鈥 hit her. Asked to identify 鈥淩ocky,鈥 the young woman pointed across the courtroom at Sharkey.
Sharkey鈥檚 lawyer, Jason Goss, maintains the jury would have acquitted his client but told AP he had no choice but to plead no contest to the reduced charge because a sentence of up to life in prison was too risky. Teel鈥檚 attorney, Brian Powers, didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.
After the judge declared a mistrial last June, Reyes, her daughter and the prosecutor agreed to bring the case again. But that prosecutor resigned without explanation soon after, amid a wave of seasoned lawyers quitting the attorney general鈥檚 office over practices they said were meant to slant legal work, reward loyalists and drum out dissent.
In October, Reyes was introduced to new lead lawyer James Winters 鈥 the last of eight prosecutors to handle the case for the office, court records show.
Reyes said her daughter told Winters she would testify again. The lawyer sought to have the case postponed but after the judge refused he informed Reyes of the plea deal. Winters, who referred questions to an agency spokesperson, resigned after appearing in court for the deal.
In the San Antonio courtroom, Reyes addressed the men who鈥檇 just entered their pleas.
鈥淭he trash is supposed to be disposed,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e lucky today.鈥
She cried on the way home. Reyes didn鈥檛 know how to explain to her daughter and wished the young woman would come home. She felt isolated and had violent nightmares.
Two days after the hearing, Reyes sat alone in her bedroom and thought about taking her own life. Her thoughts grew specific. But then she thought of her children and called a crisis hotline.
鈥淚 just swim into my thoughts,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 have to be aware that I don鈥檛 dive too deep.鈥
Reyes is still grasping for closure. She鈥檚 filed legal complaints, although none will reopen the criminal case. Perhaps her best hope is a civil lawsuit that she hopes her daughter will one day be ready to bring. They are talking more lately.
A few weeks after court, Reyes awoke to a call from a sheriff鈥檚 deputy who said her daughter had dialed 911 having a panic attack; she said she wanted to go home.
I鈥檝e lived this before, Reyes thought. Then she pulled on shoes, climbed into the pickup and drove out into the night.
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EDITOR鈥橲 NOTE 鈥 This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the 好色tv Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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Associated Press photographer Eric Gay and videojournalist Lekan Oyekanmi contributed to this report.
