Five Houston-area hotels and national chain Wyndham Hotels & Resorts face a federal lawsuit alleging they knowingly profited from the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl along the FM 1960 corridor near Spring.

Civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers and co-counsel Jonathan Jackson filed the suit Wednesday, Sept. 23, on behalf of a woman identified as Jane Doe, KPRC 2 first reported. The complaint names Budget Inn, Palace Inn, Days Inn, Camelot Inn, Hotel Royale and Wyndham as defendants.

The lawsuit ties the alleged trafficking to a scheme organized by a former Klein Cain High School cosmetology teacher and her adult son, Roger Magee. Magee pleaded guilty in March 2025 to trafficking a child and compelling prostitution by a child. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence, according to Houston Public Media.

According to the complaint, Jane Doe was lured from her home at 17, beaten and forced to engage in sex acts more than 10 times a day. The lawsuit alleges hotel employees saw the abuse happening on their properties and did nothing to stop it.

"Jane Doe was a child. No amount of makeup could have covered up that fact or hidden the nightmare she was living with," Sellers said. "These hotels let that nightmare continue because, for them, their profits were more important."

The suit focuses on the FM 1960 corridor and a stretch of Bissonnet Street known as the "Blade" or "Track." Both areas are described in the complaint as long-known hubs for prostitution and trafficking. Several of the named hotels sit along FM 1960, a major commercial strip running through the Spring and Klein communities.

Houston was the first major U.S. city to adopt an anti-trafficking ordinance, according to the complaint. In 2020, the city began requiring hotel and motel staff to receive training on recognizing and reporting signs of trafficking. The lawsuit alleges the named hotels failed to meet those requirements and instead prioritized revenue.

The criminal case that preceded this civil action began when a runaway escaped from a hotel where she had been staying with Magee and contacted the Harris County Sheriff's Office, ABC 13 reported. Investigators alleged Magee's mother, former Klein Cain teacher Kedria Grigsby, booked hotel rooms and received payments through CashApp and Zelle. A search warrant stated investigators believed she recruited as many as eight girls from her job at the school.

Prosecutors dismissed the criminal charges against Grigsby in January 2026, saying they lacked "evidence that the defendant had actual knowledge of her son's trafficking activity," according to court records cited by Houston Public Media. The Harris County District Attorney's Office said the case could be refiled.

The federal civil lawsuit does not specify a dollar amount but seeks to recover profits the hotels allegedly earned from the trafficking. None of the named hotel defendants responded to requests for comment, Houston Public Media reported.

No trial date has been set.

Residents who suspect trafficking activity can contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or the Harris County Sheriff's Office.