A woman accused in connection with a Bowie County sex trafficking case is back in jail after failing to appear in court last month.

Della Lou Griffin, 52, was arrested Friday, court records show. In addition to the failure to appear warrant issued by 202nd District Judge John Tidwell when she failed to show for a hearing June 18, Griffin was arrested for possession of a controlled substance under one gram and possession of marijuana under two ounces. She is currently being held in the Bowie County jail.

Della Lou Griffin

Griffin came to the attention of law enforcement as part of an investigation into human trafficking by Texas Department of Public Safety that resulted in multiple life sentences for one man, Kenneth Nelson, and a 130-year prison sentence for another, Charles Garton.

A third man, John Littleton, charged in connection with the case has died before being brought to trial. Investigators have speculated that Littleton's death may have been a suicide, according to testimony given at Garton's and Nelson's jury trials.

When members of the Texas Department of Public Safety's Criminal Investigations Division executed a search warrant on Littleton's home on Meadow Drive in New Boston, Texas, in April 2018, they discovered a video cassette tape labeled with a woman's name, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The tape was used to record Littleton allegedly sexually abusing an obviously underage girl on three separate occasions. Investigators were able to date the first of the three recordings because a television news report announcing that Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson was captured in the background.

That announcement was made Jan. 18, 1996.

Investigators were also able to identify and interview the victim who Littleton was abusing in the video. She confirmed that she is the girl in the video and that she was 14 when it was recorded.

Griffin allegedly introduced the victim to Littleton when she was 11 and accepted money from Littleton, which he paid so he could have sex with the girl. The alleged victim reported that Griffin was a prostitute and Litteton was one of her clients. Griffin allegedly was present during the sexual assaults to operate the video camera and could be seen in at least one of the recordings. Griffin and Littleton allegedly gave the girl alcohol and drugs before and during the assaults.

Court records in Bowie County show Griffin has a prior misdemeanor conviction for prostitution. Griffin was arrested for a single count of sexual assault of a child on Nov. 3, 2018, and released on a $25,000 commercial bond Dec. 15, 2018. The case has not yet been presented to a Bowie County grand jury.

Sexual assault of a child is punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

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