FORT WORTH, Texas — A man linked to sex trafficking in three cities lured two Amarillo teens to Fort Worth with the intent to have them engage in prostitution, documents allege.
Authorities said they were able to track down Cecil Casel, known as "CC," and two 17-year-old females to a Fort Worth bus station on Nov. 29, 2018 after they received a tip that he was attempting to sell the teens for sex acts online.
Casel was charged and later indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking and two counts of attempted child sex trafficking.
According to a criminal complaint, a family of one of the 17-year-old females called authorities after the teen said Casel tricked the pair into traveling from Amarillo to Fort Worth with the promise of a job. However, once she learned he wanted her to engage in commercial sex acts, she called family to ask for help.
Investigators said Casel connected with a teen identified as 17-year-old "Jane Doe 2" first, and later connected with her friend, 17-year-old "Jane Doe 1," through Facebook messenger.
Both teens told investigators Casel encouraged them to travel down to Fort Worth, where he said he'd get them jobs as strippers. Jane Doe 2 said she also believed she would be Casel's girlfriend.
The day before his arrest, the complaint alleges, Casel sent a female to pick up the teens in Amarillo. Both teens told investigators that during the drive, the woman identified herself as a prostitute who worked for Casel; and upon their arrival in Fort Worth, she was paid for transporting them to North Texas.
The teens said Casel then bought them both cellphones, took them to a motel and posted advertisements online for commercial sex acts with numbers linked to the phones. Jane Doe 2 told police Casel also gave the teens written instructions on how to talk to potential clients.
According to the complaint, Casel threatened the girls when they said they didn't want to engage in prostitution, saying "he paid good money to have them transported to Fort Worth ... and they were now in debt to him."
After Casel's arrest, authorities said investigators were able to link him to advertisements for commercial sex posted in Dallas, Fort Worth and Denver dating as far back as 2017.
