Missing person working out at a gym leads to San Antonio sex-trafficking arrest

Steven Charles Sumlin, 39, was arrested on warrants for sexual assault of a child and continuous trafficking of a person. Steven Charles Sumlin, 39, was arrested on warrants for sexual assault of a child and continuous trafficking of a person. Photo: /booking Mug Photo: /booking Mug Image 1 of / 92 Caption Close Missing person working out at a gym leads to San Antonio sex-trafficking arrest 1 / 92 Back to Gallery

A man who was accused in 2015 of running a college-targeted prostitution ring was arrested again in connection with a similar operation involving at least one minor after employees at a Northeast Side gym recognized a missing person and called police.

Steven Charles Sumlin, 39, was apprehended Monday on warrants charging him with sexual assault of a child and continuous trafficking of a person, according to Bexar County Central Magistrate records.

Authorities were alerted to Sumlin when witnesses saw that a 17-year-old girl who accompanied him to the gym in Live Oak was featured on a missing person poster at a nearby business, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Sumlin fled when he saw police arrive, hitching a ride with an unknown person at a nearby movie theater, witnesses told police. Live Oak police pulled over the car on a traffic stop but released Sumlin after he told officers he had only dropped off the teen and knew nothing about her, the affidavit states.

The teen was detained at the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center because of outstanding warrants. Under questioning by San Antonio police she admitted to prostitution but did not implicate Sumlin, the affidavit states.

Investigators discovered a fake ID in a wallet containing her cell phone, which had images she used to post ads for her services online, the affidavit states.

In a second interview with police, the teen said she ran away from her parents’ house in April and met Sumlin after answering his job posting for an escort on Craigslist. She said she was 16 when they first had sex at his house, the affidavit states.

She told investigators that Sumlin later told her about his escort agency, which employed several prostitutes with such names as “Paola,” “Serenity,” and “Dirty Blonde Bunny,” according to the affidavit.

Although she began working for his escort service and turned over all the money she made to him, she eventually considered Sumlin her boyfriend, the document states.

Starting in October, Sumlin would personally drive the teen to hotels where she used a fake ID to rent rooms, police said in the affidavit.

Sumlin was arrested in 2015, accused of being the head of a prostitution ring that offered a “sex menu” of college student prostitutes. Authorities said he forced up to 30 women into prostitution under a service called “School Girls by Jazleen,” police said at the time.

The SAPD's vice unit worked a six-month investigation on Sumlin with the Texas Attorney General’s office and police departments in Dallas and Austin. He is awaiting trial on those charges.

The AG’s Office alerted SAPD detectives to Sumlin’s connection with the teen, and the detectives then opened their own investigation alongside Live Oak Police.

Sumlin’s bail on the latest charges totaled $150,000.

jbeltran@express-news.net

Twitter: @JBfromSA