A Dallas-area woman has been convicted for forcing her 14-year-old stepdaughter into prostitution.
Karen Goana Villegas, 33, allegedly “trafficked and prostituted her 14-year-old stepdaughter with adult men” for “several years,” the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney’s office announced. Villegas was convicted and now faces 25 years in prison.
“These cases are complex and deeply traumatic, and they demand focused, specialized attention,” said District Attorney John Creuzot in a release. “I’m incredibly proud of the work our team has done to hold this defendant accountable and to support the survivor throughout this process.”
Villegas reportedly took advantage of her “close maternal connection” with the girl for financial gain, according to the release.
“This included driving the victim to the homes of multiple men, who would then pay the defendant in money and drugs to sexually assault the child,” the release reads. “The defendant also made her home available to men so they could sexually assault the victim.”
Officials found out about this when the girl’s brother “bravely” spoke to a school counselor, according to the release.
Jaco Booyens, who runs a nonprofit that fights sex trafficking, told The Dallas Express that cases like this often hide “in plain sight,” with the children going to school and attending extracurricular activities.
“We use words like ‘grooming,’ ‘desensitization’ – really, what it is is proximity,” he said. “It’s frequent conversation. It is inherent trust. It is getting to a place where things feel mutual, although force, fraud, or coercion is present.”
Traffickers place “insurmountable” mental pressure on their victims, according to Booyens. Villegas allegedly “coerced and manipulated” her stepdaughter into “obedience” by burdening her with the family finances.
Most sex trafficking is “familial,” according to Booyens, meaning the predator can be a family member or a familiar figure.
“If it’s a mother figure, in this case, proximity is there already. Authority is already built in. Provision is built in,” he said. “Those are things that traffickers work years to establish.”
Booyens said familial trafficking often takes the form of psychological negotiation between a predator and victim.
“It’s compounded, it’s 24 hours a day. Now everything, even ‘Why didn’t you clean your room,’ becomes a tool to exploit,” he said. “The victim by default – they don’t know – but they’re negotiating with evil.”
More than 300 children are forced into sex every night in the Dallas area, according to Booyens. He said 22 to 47 percent of trafficking cases in general are familial, and close to 30 percent of trafficking cases across Texas fall in this category.
“The way a child is trafficked in Oak Cliff, the mechanisms are very different than how a child is trafficked in Highland Park, but they’re trafficked in both,” Booyens said. He said predators in Oak Cliff would take advantage of a child’s need for material necessities, while predators in Highland Park would take advantage of a child’s emotional needs.
“The predator is just looking for, ‘What’s your vulnerability, and I’ll exploit that,’” Booyens said.
Traffickers began to shift from kidnapping to manipulating close relationships around 2013, according to Booyens, since it drew less attention. “From 2015 to 2020 became this refinement of the craft of how to exploit the child while living at home,” he said.
This was the first offense prosecuted by the Dallas County D.A.’s newly-formed Human Trafficking Unit, according to the release. The unit launched in January 2025 and was funded by a $207,520 grant from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office to support a “specialized prosecutor” who will focus on “adult and child human trafficking.”
Abbott announced $500 million in public safety grants in December, including for “anti-human trafficking efforts.”
“This case shows the impact of having experienced prosecutors, investigators, and victim advocates working together,” Creuzot said in the release. “I commend our entire team for their commitment and professionalism in pursuing justice in such a difficult case.”