Vegas girl in North Dakota trafficking case gets probation

The 16-year-old Las Vegas girl involved in a North Dakota human trafficking case on Monday was sentenced to probation for filing a false police report.

Clark County Family Court Judge William Voy ordered the youth to serve 12 months formal probation. During that period she will receive in-home family counseling and will not be allowed to have contact with negative peers, including Kevin Jackson Fleming, 18, who is now in custody and faces felony charges for his involvement in the human trafficking case.

The girl, who has a history of running away from home, also cannot use social media or a cell phone while on probation.

“The most important thing now is I want to get her help,” her mother, Labrina Lewis, told the judge. “She will finally get the services that she needs.”

The 16-year-old and a 14-year-old girl, also from Las Vegas, were found by authorities who were investigating a sex trafficking ring in Minot, N.D., after the younger girl’s mother saw an ad offering her daughter on an Internet bulletin board commonly used to solicit prostitution.

Authorities and the 16-year-old’s mother say the girl was placed in a foster home in Minot, but then fled with Fleming. In Idaho Falls, Idaho, on April 9 their car was stopped by police for speeding and a routine ID check led authorities to take her into custody.

Authorities in Idaho and the Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice Services arranged the girl’s return to Las Vegas, but when her April 13 flight to McCarran International Airport arrived early she was able to leave the airport on her own.

Outside of court, the mother said Fleming contacted her daughter after her return to Las Vegas, which she had feared would be the case. The girl was later found by authorities somewhere in Las Vegas, she said.

Lewis said she doesn’t know how her daughter met Fleming, but believes they probably met over the Internet. She said her daughter disappeared soon after Easter Day, and that Fleming drover her daughter and the 14-year-old to North Dakota.

The girls did not know each other before they left Las Vegas, she said.

When asked what the girls were told to get them to go to North Dakota, Lewis said “Right now we are not allowed to discuss that.”

The 16-year-old, who will also be monitored with a GPS unit, will enroll in the same school she previously attended. She will receive various services at home, including therapy.

“She’s afraid,” the mother of eight said. “She just wants to go back to her normal life now.”

Susan Roske, an attorney with the Clark County juvenile public defender’s office on behalf of the teenager, said she was happy for her because “she needs supervised services that the court can provide.”

Fleming and Tayari Chanel Meadows, 20, of Las Vegas, face felony human trafficking charges in North Dakota.

Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter: @yeseniaamaro