Hawkins woman accused of assisting in sex trafficking of minor

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A Hawkins woman is in the Smith County jail accused of assisting in the sex trafficking of a minor.

Carly Sofia Loughmiller is charged with trafficking of persons. She was booked into the Smith County jail on Dec. 15 with a bond set at $450,000.

According to an arrest affidavit, during April 2020, a Texas Ranger contacted a criminal investigator from the Smith County District Attorney’s Office with information concerning Loughmiller, saying she was possibly being sexually trafficked by a person named Korwin Jones, also known as De’Vonta BMT. During the course of the Ranger’s investigation, he was able to identify Korwin Jones and suspected him of facilitating prostitution and that he may live in Tyler.

On Oct. 28, 2021, an interview with a confidential informant took place at the Smith County Sheriff’s Office. The informant detailed knowledge of criminal activity concerning De’Vonta BMT and other criminal activity. The informant identified Korwin Jones from a jail book-in photo as De’Vonta BMT and that he was a member of the West Side Rollin 60′s Crips criminal street gang. According to the affidavit, the informant said that Jones is a pimp and had been sexually exploiting multiple people. According to the informant, one of the people had been prostituting for Jones since they were 15 years old.

On Feb. 15, 2022, one of the people the informant said was working for Jones was interviewed and corroborated the information from the informant. At that time, another person was detained in the Smith County Jail for criminal offenses.

During an interview, the person who had been detained said she had worked for Jones as a prostitute for approximately two years and believes up to 10 other girls were working as well. She said she worked with Carly Loughmiller at a motel in Tyler for approximately a month and at other locations. She positively identified Loughmiller from a jail book-in photo. Her information corroborated the information received from the Texas Ranger. A warrant was then issued for Korwin Jones’ arrest.

According to the affidavit, on Nov. 30, 2022, a criminal investigator from the Smith County District Attorney’s Office received information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Task Force Analyst concerning a Gregg County Jail telephone conversation between Loughmiller and Desnique “Dez” Herndon. Herndon is detained at the Gregg County Jail on a federal investigation into sex trafficking of a minor.

During the conversation, Loughmiller said that she had learned another person had been arrested in Smith County for several criminal offenses. Loughmiller stated she was concerned that the person was 15 years old when they worked together and that she had rented rooms for the person and that she knew she had a fake ID, but did not know she was that young.

The affidavit said the conversation corroborated the information received from one of the people that Loughmiller assisted in the commission of trafficking a person, a minor. by renting rooms so that the criminal act of prostitution could be facilitated.

The affidavit said the investigator knew from this investigation and others like it, it is common for sex traffickers to employ other prostitutes to help manage their operations.

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