Federal, state, and local law enforcement shut down Dallas sex trafficking conspiracy operated out of the Paris Adult Bookstore

DALLAS - United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Ryan Raybould, today announced the July 22 indictment of eight individuals for their alleged roles in a sex trafficking and money laundering conspiracy operated out of the Paris Adult Bookstore on Harry Hines Boulevard in Dallas.

The indictment charges each of the defendants with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. Some defendants were additionally charged with sex trafficking through force, fraud, and coercion, sex trafficking of a minor, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and/or felon in possession of firearm.

Six of the eight defendants were arrested on July 24. They are currently in federal custody. Law enforcement also recovered 21 firearms from the defendants throughout the investigation.

"The eight individuals charged in this indictment preyed on their victims and sex trafficked several women and juveniles for their own financial gain under threat of violence, fraud and coercion," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. "These arrests send a clear message that this U.S. Attorney's Office will work with our federal partners to investigate and aggressively prosecute anyone involved in the depraved and dehumanizing crime of sex trafficking. We will ensure these perpetrators are held accountable so the victims can receive the justice they are owed."

Those charged in the federal indictment include:

• Aaron Tyrone Betford, 43, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and felon in possession of a firearm
• Montre Lamont Mason, 51, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking through force, fraud, and coercion, sex trafficking of a minor, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and felon in possession of a firearm
• Eileen Mason, 52, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments
• Trelynn Love Mason, 24, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments
• Larry Jones, 51, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion, sex trafficking of a minor, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments
• Krishenda Doss, 37, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments
• Reginald Rose, 38, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion
• Antonio Dario Osorio-Avelar, 23, charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and sex trafficking of a minor

"This indictment represents a major step forward in dismantling an organization that, according to the allegations, profited from the exploitation of vulnerable people for years," said HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard. "Human traffickers view victims as commodities, and Homeland Security Investigations is committed to identifying those responsible, holding them accountable, and ensuring victims receive the support they need. This case reflects the unwavering commitment of the North Texas Trafficking Task Force, an HSI-led initiative under the North Texas Homeland Security Task Force and the Texoma High Intensity Drug Trafficking area, along with our federal, state, and local partners to protect our communities and pursue justice for those who exploit others for profit."

"These individuals allegedly participated in a criminal enterprise to traffic and exploit vulnerable victims; IRS-CI's financial expertise is built to expose such activity," said Special Agent in Charge Christopher J. Altemus, Jr., IRS Criminal Investigation, Texas Field Office. "This indictment demonstrates what's possible when federal, state, and local partners combine their expertise and resources to protect our communities. Together, we will continue dismantling criminal networks and cutting off the illicit profits that fuel them."

"This investigation reflects what is possible when investigators, prosecutors, and our law enforcement partners work together toward a common goal," said Dallas Police Chief Daniel C. Comeaux. "We are committed to protecting our neighborhoods, enforcing the law fairly, and pursuing those who engage in organized criminal activity. While today's indictment marks an important milestone, the judicial process will now take its course, and we remain committed to seeing this case through."

According to the indictment, the eight defendants allegedly engaged in a year's long sex trafficking and money laundering criminal conspiracy out of the Paris Adult Bookstore and used the sexually oriented retail business to hide the illicit activity. The bookstore is located on Harry Hines Boulevard in an area of Dallas commonly referred to as "the blade" or "the track," where commercial sex workers solicit customers by walking along the street, often wearing limited clothing to signal availability.

For years, the store has operated as a sexually oriented business, selling sex toys and other novelty items in a retail area and offering 40 "arcade" rooms behind locked doors where customers could pay to watch pornographic movies. These alleged conspirators rented out the arcade rooms on a short-term basis to sex workers and their customers, known as "johns," for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts that the business profited from. The women would be required to pay a cash fee to a cashier in exchange for a condom, personal wipes, and use of an arcade room. Sometimes the same women would come in multiple times per shift per day with different commercial sex customers. Employees were permitted to take home leftover cash paid in the form of a fee by the commercial sex workers as "tips."

In addition to the six employees of the Paris Adult Bookstore, two sex traffickers, or "pimps," were indicted for allegedly causing women and minors to engage in commercial sex using the store's arcade rooms. At various times, commercial sex workers entered the store and interacted with the employees. Some of these women had visible bruising on their bodies, black eye(s), road rash, stab wounds, and other visible injuries, which would be obvious to the employees. Some of the commercial sex workers recounted incidents of their pimps assaulting them to employees. On occasion, conspirators personally interacted with the pimps when they bought merchandise from the retail section, searched for their commercial sex workers, and discussed their workers' access and continued use of the store to complete commercial sex transactions.

The indictment alleges conspirators working for the Paris Adult Book Store financially benefited from allowing and facilitating this conduct. They made monetary transactions with the fees they charged pimps and commercial sex workers-fraudulently obtained proceeds-that were designed to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds, and to promote and encourage the continued participation of others in the fraudulent enterprise.

For example, conspirators acting as "security" for the store were allegedly hired with these fraudulent proceeds. Security personnel were responsible for controlling the johns and commercial sex workers by ensuring they only solicited in certain areas of the property, that the pimps did not linger in the parking lot, by escorting johns and commercial sex workers to the arcade rooms, and by reporting to conspirators any disturbances involving law enforcement or any altercations between johns, employees, commercial sex workers, and pimps.

In August 2024, a commercial sex worker, who had solicited johns in the Paris Adult Bookstore parking lot over the course of several nights, was taken from the store's parking lot, kidnapped, and murdered by Naasson Haazzard.

If convicted, several defendants face a sentence of up to life in federal prison.

Homeland Security Investigations, IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Dallas Police Department conducted the investigation through the HSI's North Texas Trafficking Task Force, a cross-agency task force that partners with federal, state, and local law enforcement and nonprofit organizations to combat human trafficking in the North Texas region.

Assistant United States Attorneys Brandie Wade from the Violent Crimes Section and Myria Boehm from the Major Crimes section are prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting, the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

An indictment is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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