Texas father turns private investigator to rescue teen daughter from sex trafficking ring after she was groomed on Snapchat - in scene reminiscent of Hollywood blockbuster Taken
- John Clark, of Houston, launched a search for his missing daughter in April
- The 18-year-old got caught in a sex trafficking ring via Snapchat, Clark said
- Hired a private firm and tracked down his daughter in a building complex
- High school girl was with accused captor; has begun residential therapy
- Clark has launched a petition to strengthen anti-human trafficking laws
A Texas teenager channeled his inner Liam Neeson after his 18-year-old daughter was lured into sex trafficking on Snapchat.
John Clark, of Houston, set up a 1-800 number, hired a private firm specialized in kidnapping rescues and launched a frantic search for the high school student when she went missing in April.
The childhood cancer survivor was found a month later in an apartment building with a person now accused of being her captor. The suspect has pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution of a minor.
The teenage girl was groomed on Snapchat when she was 16 years old, Clark told KHOU. The groomer was a man in his twenties, whom she had met at a party.
The rescue is reminiscent of the 2008 film Taken in which Liam Neeson plays a former CIA operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter and her best friend after the two girls are kidnapped by human traffickers for sexual slavery while traveling in France.
John Clark, of Houston, launched a frantic search for his 18-year-old daughter when she went missing in April. Clark is pictured right with his family
Clark rescued his daughter from a building complex after setting up his own task force to track her down. Her suspected captor has since pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution of a minor
'It's nothing against the police… They're set up to slowly, methodically build an airtight case,' Clark told KHOU.
'And in the time it would've taken to build an airtight case, I would've lost my daughter.'
Clark has now started a petition to reinforce anti-human trafficking laws. Among other things, he wants the age to work in sexually-oriented businesses to be raised from 18 to 21.
He also wants to increase penalties for anyone convicted of compelling or promoting prostitution when the person being exploited is under 21.
Clark also wishes for parents to have default guardianship to act on their child's behalf under certain conditions, including if the child lives at home, is a full-time student, is in high school and has never been married.
He insisted on Facebook that he was an involved parent.
Clark is now fighting to improve anti-human trafficking legislation and warn other parents while his daughter is in residential therapy. The family is pictured
Liam Neeson in the 2008 film Taken in which he rescues his daughter from a sex trafficking ring
'When you read the scenario above you may get the impression we were uninvolved parents who simply were not paying attention to our children. That was not the case,' he wrote in a post.
'We went through her phone several times a week. We didn't even let her have her phone upstairs. When she went upstairs she had to leave her phone on the kitchen counter, so we could check it.
'We had her all her passwords (or thought we did). I had a GPS tracker installed on her car and monitored it every time she left the house.
'We Facetimed her every time she went out to make sure she was where she was supposed to be, and she was with the people she was supposed to be seeing.'
These precautions, Clark said, were not sufficient. He told fellow parents on Facebook post how groomers typically proceed.
Groomers, according to Clark, begin by befriending their target.
They offer drugs or alcohol, put down the target's parents, isolate the teen from other friends.
Then, Clark said, the groomer takes advantage of an opportunity to snatch the teen away.
'It happens with younger teens too, but a girl who just turned 18 is a real target,' he wrote.
'Your daughter goes to a party and disappears. If she is 18 law enforcement is handcuffed. Unless there is clear evidence of a crime, she is just another young adult who decided to leave home.
'If the people who led her away can keep her away for three weeks the chances you will ever see your daughter again decrease significantly.'
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