A Houston-area high school teacher is accused of helping her adult son by recruiting female students for prostitution, police say.
Kedria Grigsby, 42, and her son Roger Magee, 22, are charged with sex trafficking and forced prostitution, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office announced in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Grigsby is also charged with three counts of child trafficking and three counts of forced prostitution of minors, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office believes Grigsby helped Magee, who was arrested in November 2022 and later charged with alleged sexual assault of an underage teenage girl and sex trafficking, according to Harris County court records. Magee, who has pleaded not guilty in the case and is awaiting trial, is currently incarcerated in the Harris County Jail, according to the Facebook post.
USA TODAY contacted lawyers for Grigsby and Magee on Friday but did not receive a response.
More details on the allegations against Kedria Grigsby
The sheriff’s office said Grigsby helped his son by recruiting “troubled youth from local high schools by offering them a place to stay, which would be a hotel.”
Three girls, ages 15, 16 and 17, attended the high school where Grigsby taught in the Klein Independent School District in the northern Houston suburb of Klein, according to the sheriff’s office. All three girls were reported running away, the department added.
Other teens came forward and said Grigsby also tried to recruit them while they attended the school, the sheriff’s office said. The sheriff’s office is conducting a follow-up investigation with them, according to the Facebook post.
Kedria Grigsby posts bond and is released
Grigsby posted $750,000 bond and is no longer in the Harris County Jail, according to inmate records.
USA TODAY attempted to reach Grigsby through the listed numbers and emails but did not immediately get a response Friday.
As part of Grisby’s conditions of release, she cannot contact girls connected to the case, be within 1,000 feet of an area where children commonly congregate, or have access to a phone or internet , according to court records.
Text messages between Grigsby and his son about alleged payment for prostitution services were played during a court hearing, KRIV-TV in Houston reported.
Human trafficking: A criminal network hidden in a vast American landscape
Kedria Grigsby no longer employed by the school district
The independent school district said in a statement to USA TODAY Friday that Grigsby was a cosmetology teacher at Klein Cain High School and was no longer on the payroll.
The district said Grigsby “will not return to Klein Cain or any Klein ISD school in any capacity, and we will continue to thoroughly investigate and prosecute anyone who betrays the trust of our students, from our families and our community.
Charges against Grigsby were initially reported in February 2023 to human resources, who reported the information to the school district’s police department, the district said.
School police then contacted the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, which told the district that Grigsby was not a suspect, according to the district.
“The District did not receive any further allegations or reports of criminal activity related to Kedria Grigsby until this Monday, April 8, 2024, when the Harris County Sheriff’s Department contacted our Police Department regarding accusations and of imminent arrest,” the district said. “That same day, Klein Police immediately apprehended Kedria Grigsby and assisted the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in making her arrest.
“Each potential employee must pass multiple background checks before being hired,” the district said, adding that Grigsby had a clear background check and criminal record until his arrest.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Klein, Texas teacher accused of recruiting students for prostitution
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