Kedria Grigsby, inset, a teacher at Klein Cain High School near Houston, is accused of paying for a hotel for runaway teens where they engaged in prostitution. Her son, Roger Magee, inset, is also charged. (Mug shots: Harris County Sheriff’s Office; Screenshot: Google Maps)
A high school cosmetology teacher in Texas and her son are facing human trafficking charges after they allegedly recruited “troubled” teens into prostitution.
Kedria Grigsby, 42, a teacher at Klein Cain High School in the Houston area, offered reported runaways a place to stay at a hotel she paid for where they would engage in prostitution, a criminal complaint says. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Grigsby was helping her son Roger Magee, 21, who was previously arrested for similar crimes, as part of a prostitution enterprise. The victims are 15, 16 and 17, according to Gonzalez.
Grigsby and Magee are facing three counts each of trafficking of a child and compelling prostitution of juveniles. More charges are possible, according to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said additional teens have come forward to say Grigsby recruited them at school. A statement from the school district said it suspended Grigsby as soon as it learned of the arrest and is starting the termination process.
“We understand that this news is unsettling,” the district said in a message to parents. “Rest assured, we are committed to dealing with this situation transparently. Our utmost priority is the safety of our students, and if the allegations prove true, we strongly encourage the criminal justice system to take every appropriate action to protect our children.
Now the district is fighting off allegations that it knew about Grigsby’s prostitution ring for over a year. Community activists held a press conference Wednesday morning and claimed a former teacher alerted the district in February 2023 that Grigsby and Magee were trafficking their daughter, according to local Fox affiliate KRIV.
But the district called those allegations “blatantly false” in a pop-up window on its website. It says the person notified the district about a report from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office involving Grigsby. According to the district’s police Chief Marlon Runnels, his department “immediately” checked with the sheriff’s office, who told them Grigsby was not a suspect in the case.
The statement does not mention anything more about the case but Harris County court records show Magee was charged with trafficking and prostitution charges in February 2023. He also was arrested on the same charges in November 2022, records show.
Magee also allegedly intimidated a potential victim in one of those cases. He sent text messages to the victim saying “you snitched” and “you gone see me b—-,” according to a criminal complaint. He also reportedly threatened to shoot up her house. Prosecutors tacked on a retaliation charge for the alleged threats.
Grigsby is in jail on a $750,000 bond while her son is being held without bond.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, used the arrest to push his agenda of school vouchers.
“What some of our educators are doing is criminal and disgusting,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “No child should be compelled by the state to be in a school like this. And yet, current law doesn’t allow the choice to go elsewhere. I’m working to elect state representatives who will change that.”
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