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An 11-year-old girl living in a hotel under the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) care as part of its Children Without Placement (CWOP) program was abducted and nearly trafficked by a 42-year-old man on Valentine’s Day, according to a police report.
Kane Jerome Smith of Dallas was arrested as he drove a yellow box freight truck hours from his home in Stafford, Texas, where the alleged abduction took place.
His attorney, Charles NeSmith Jr., declined TPR's request for comment, and calls to Smith’s family were not returned.
Stafford Police said in a report that Smith took the child from a Residence Inn where she was staying with a rotating group of Child Protective Service (CPS) employees. The child was in foster care, living in CWOP, lacking a placement with a family or treatment center.
A source with knowledge of the case told TPR that the 11-year-old victim told police that the perpetrator cut the window screen in her room with a knife and forced her to get into his truck.
Police reported a possible sexual offense occurred, a weapon was used and that the child suffered minor injuries. Police collected video footage, images and DNA evidence.
The child said she escaped the man after hours and returned to the hotel. It was not clear if CPS workers knew she was gone. The CPS staff member called police on Feb. 14 at 5 a.m., the report explained.
DFPS said the child was taken to medical staff as soon as she was recovered.
Smith was arrested hours later and remained in the Fort Bend County Jail with a $150,000 bail set.
"The safety and security of the children in DFPS care is our first and greatest consideration," said Marissa Gonzales, DFPS communications director, in a statement. "Non-stop intensive efforts continue to secure licensed placement for every child that meets their individual needs."
The child is currently in a licensed placement is and is no longer considered in CWOP.
Staff at the CWOP location were put on desk-duty and an investigation was launched, Gonzales added.
"Yet another tragedy in our foster care system," said Paul Yetter, an attorney representing children in the longstanding federal lawsuit against Texas' child welfare system. "This should not happen in a state with the resources of Texas. These children continue to be lost and put at dire risk."
CWOP has been highly controversial and criticized by a federal judge and child welfare experts for how vulnerable it can leave children.
The practice has been around for more than 15 years, a temporary placement for kids just entering or reentering state’s custody. The practice is only supposed to last a few hours or an overnight, but it reached critical mass during the COVID-19 pandemic as placements for children with higher mental health needs dried up. Hundreds of children were left for days in hotels.
The state has spent more than $100 million on CWOP since 2020, according to open records.
Reports from federal court monitors have described kids running away from the placements and being injured, kids assaulting one another, and kids being assaulted by security staff. One child was sexually involved with a hotel staff member.
This was not the first time a child has been allegedly trafficked from a CWOP location. Attorneys with child clients in foster care called ad-litems have also complained the hotels chosen for CWOP are often in high-sex trafficking areas.
“My child client was able to walk out of the hotel room and hotel itself and was immediately able to sex-traffic herself within the hour,” Emily Miller, an ad litem, wrote to a judge in Travis County two years ago.
Other attorneys have described their child clients being trafficked from CWOP state-contracted rental homes.
The state has significantly reduced the number of children in CWOP. The high-water mark of 400 per night occurred in 2021. Now the numbers are often less than 50 statewide.
Twenty-eight children were in CWOP earlier this week.
