Harris County authorities said the girl flew to Texas in May of 2024 at the age of 14. Tarik Jammer, 28, has been charged with sexual performance by a child.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Nearly one year since she went missing, a teenage girl from Sacramento, California was found in Houston – and the man she reportedly flew across the country to be with is now charged with child sex crimes.
The Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office arrested 28-year-old Tarik Jammer on April 10, after they said they received reports of suspicious activity inside a vacant home on Cold Snow Drive. When deputies got there, they said two people tried to flee, but they were quickly detained.
Through their investigation, the constable’s office learned that the 15-year-old girl they found was reported missing in May 2024 out of Sacramento, California. Authorities said the girl and Jammer first met through an online gaming platform. Captain Jose Garza said the girl was only 14 years old when she ran away from home and flew to Houston to reportedly be with Jammer.
“Arrangements were made for her to fly into Houston, where the suspect picked her up, and was staying in a hotel at the very beginning,” Garza said.
Garza said they were in a sexual and dating relationship since the teen arrived in Houston. Jammer was charged with sexual performance of a child. He appeared in probable cause court last week where it was revealed that Jammer allegedly “created a lewd video” of himself with the girl. Garza confirmed with KHOU 11 News that deputies found photographic evidence “of a sexual nature” on a cell phone they had recovered.
Garza also said the constable’s office is still investigating to determine whether Jammer will also be charged with human trafficking.
“We are currently investigating on how she got here. Was she coerced? Did she come here of her own free will? So, those things are still under investigation,” Garza said. “We will continue to look at the human trafficking aspect of it, you know, so that’s going to take some time. I’m going through all the information from the cell phones and how she got here and what occurred between the time she was here until the time she was recovered by our agency.”
KHOU 11 News further asked Garza to clarify what it would take for Jammer to be charged with human trafficking.
“That she was brought here against her will, she was coerced, she was lied to, she was promised things. There’s a lot of things that go into proving a case for human trafficking,” Garza responded.
Harris County authorities said they worked closely with law enforcement in Sacramento to investigate this case.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Amar Gandhi said when they first got involved in the case last May, they passed along the information to the California Highway Patrol, which issued an Ebony Alert.
“When that happens, even when she was listed as an at-risk missing person, she’s entered into a national database, so any law enforcement contact she has, she’ll come up as a missing person and hopefully get recovered,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said parents should take this case as a warning, given the teen and the suspect met and started conversing through an online game.
“There’s messaging in these games. The stuff they’re talking in their headsets, the stuff they’re typing to each other… He was able to manipulate her, a 28-year-old man talking to a 14-year-old girl. There’s never going to be any good intentions with that,” Gandhi said. “They know how to prey upon the weaknesses of these kids. They exploit those needs, those wants, and they kind of manufacture this fantasy land of what they could quote unquote be escaping to.”
According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, their CyberTipline received more than 36.2 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation in 2023.
KHOU 11 News went to the experts to ask what parents can do to protect their children online. Crime Stoppers of Houston CEO Rania Mankarious said the first, and most important, step is for parents to talk to their kids.
“A predator’s greatest gift is an uninformed child. It is a gift to a predator, so even if we feel this could never happen, because we have a great kid, and we’re in a great school, and we’re in a great neighborhood, we want to throw all that out the window and equip them, equip them with the tools they need to stay safe,” Mankarious said.
Mankarious said some signs to watch out for include if your child is acting differently or hiding their gadgets more often.
As a preventative message, Mankarious said parents can use tools, such as Bark, to help limit and monitor their children’s time online.
“Bark is a parent monitoring platform that you can install on your children’s devices. It will monitor trigger words,” Mankarious said. “Bark will ping you and let you know, hey, these words are showing up on your children’s phone.”
However, Mankarious said some social media and gaming companies do not allow Bark to have access to their platforms, so she said it is crucial for parents to work with their children to set boundaries and ground rules about talking to other people on the internet.
“Nothing is going to stop or take the place of getting a child to understand the risks and be willing to do what they need to, to keep themselves safe,” Mankarious said.
Jammer is being held in the Harris County Jail on a $15,000 bond, according to online records. A protective order has also been placed to keep him away from the teen girl. Jammer is due back in court in June.
The Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office said they are working with authorities in Sacramento, as well as Child Protective Services in Texas and California, to get the girl safely back home.