Sherman, TX – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a significant victory in the fight against human trafficking after a Grayson County jury sentenced Robert Franklin to more than 50 years in prison for trafficking a child, prostitution offenses, and sexual assault as part of a multi-state criminal operation spanning North Texas and Oklahoma.
Franklin received 50 years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on the charge of Trafficking of a Child, a sentence for which he is not eligible for parole and must serve in full. He was also sentenced to 20 years for sexual assault, to run concurrently. The jury imposed a $10,000 fine on each of the five counts.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that Franklin targeted a vulnerable 16-year-old runaway who had fled Child Protective Services custody. On September 26, 2021, the victim was recovered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she reported that Franklin had initially picked her up after her escape.
According to prosecutors, Franklin transported the teenager to Texas in October 2020 and began prostituting her. He later returned with her to Oklahoma to continue the exploitation before abandoning her at a hotel. Between December 2020 and January 2021, Franklin again picked up the victim and brought her to Sherman, Texas, where he prostituted her and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.
During the trial, Franklin took the stand in his own defense and admitted to transporting the victim across North Texas and Oklahoma as part of the prostitution scheme. Expert testimony was provided by a Sergeant from the Office of the Texas Attorney General’s Human Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime (HTTOC) division.
“My office is committed to partnering with law enforcement and authorities across the state to investigate, prosecute, and secure just sentences against dangerous offenders who commit unconscionable crimes,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton. “The evils of the human trafficking world are far beyond despicable, and I will continue to fight to uncover these crimes and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”
The HTTOC section, created by Attorney General Paxton, focuses on combating human trafficking through aggressive investigations, prosecutions, training for law enforcement, and public awareness efforts.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Helen Tschurr and Abbe Miller from the Office of the Attorney General, in collaboration with Grayson County District Attorney John Kermit Hill.
