Harris County – A headline that could deeply unsettle any parent: “Klein Cain High School Teacher Charged with Sex Trafficking.”
This morning, she’s expected in court to be arraigned on sex trafficking and charges from the alarming details that unfolded.
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FIRST REPORT: Klein ISD cosmetology teacher arrested, charged with sex trafficking, compelling prostitution
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced the teacher’s arrest in a Monday night tweet on April 8, saying Kedria Grigsby, 42, and her son, Roger Magee, 21, were involved in a sex trafficking ring that included at least three teen girls.
Grigsby taught cosmetology classes at Klein Cain High School.
“It appears Grigsby recruited troubled juveniles from local high schools by offering them a place to stay, which would be a hotel,” Gonzalez said.
RELATED: Report had been made against Klein Cain cosmetology teacher charged with sex trafficking in 2023
Two days after Grigsby’s arrest, community activists challenged Klein Independent School District officials, accusing the district of withholding troubling information about Grisby for more than a year.
A school district spokesperson vehemently denied those claims.
Following the activists’ allegations, KPRC 2 worked to determine what administrators knew and when they knew it.
As part of our investigation, we talked with a source with firsthand knowledge of the case who did not want to be publicly identified for fear of retaliation.
KPRC 2 is also not releasing any identifying information to protect the sex trafficking survivors.
SEE ALSO: A timeline of the investigation of former Klein ISD teacher accused of sex-trafficking students
Key Dates in Investigation: What Happened and When
>> NOVEMBER 8, 2022
A 15-year-old calls for help, saying she’s being sex trafficked by a man, according to court records obtained by KPRC 2. A Harris County deputy goes to a hotel in north Harris County to investigate.
The teen tells the deputy she is “being forced to prostitute” by Grigsby’s son, Roger Magee.
Moments later, a Harris County human trafficking investigator arrives at the hotel to interview the teen. During the interview, the teen tells the detective that she, a 16-year-old, and an 18-year-old woman are all engaged in prostitution for Magee, the court documents state.
The 15-year-old says, “Magee gave them all nicknames so the Johns would not know their names.”
The teen tells the investigator that Magee forced her to give him all the money she made from her prostitution transactions.
As the human trafficking detective is searching the hotel room where Magee and the teens stay, an 18-year-old woman walks into the room, sees the investigator, turns around and gets into a car driven by Kedria Grisby. Inside that car is a 16-year-old girl the detective runs a criminal background check on and finds out she’s been reported as a missing teen.
According to the detective, the 16-year-old said she’d run away from home in October of 2022 and later moved into Magee’s home, along with his parents and siblings. The 16-year-old also tells the detective that the 15-year-old who called for help that day was also a runaway.
The 16-year-old tells the detective she and the other girls would “make money by posting photos of themselves on sex ads.”
She says she doesn’t remember Grigsby’s name, but knows Grigsby works as a teacher.
The 18-year-old woman who’d walked out of the hotel room into Grisby’s car, tells a detective she’d come back to the hotel to get her belongings, and that Grigsby was her stepmom. She says the 16-year-old “missing” teen didn’t have a place to stay or clothes to wear, so Grisby got a hotel room for everyone to stay in for a few nights.
The 18-year-old also admits she and the two other teens all “engage in prostitution.” She confesses that she “provides Magee with her prostitution earnings, and he protects her while she is on dates because he is her boyfriend.”
>>NOVEMBER 9, 2022
The next day in a follow-up conversation, Grigsby tells the detective she was at the hotel because the 18-year-old asked her for a ride. Grigsby also tells police the 18-year-old lives at Grigsby’s home and dates her son.
Grigsby says she doesn’t know the other teen and “She didn’t want her son to be at her residence with all his female girls; therefore, she got him a hotel room,” according to court documents.
Grigsby also tells detectives her son does not have a job.
The first arrests
Online court documents show Grigsby’s son, Roger Magee, is arrested and charged with several child trafficking-related charges that same month, November 2022, shortly after the investigation began.
The 18-year-old woman who called Magee her boyfriend and was at the hotel is also arrested in November 2022; however, the charges against her get dropped.
>>DECEMBER 2022
According to court documents, detectives request and obtain various phone records and financial transaction documents, such as Zelle and Cash App, between December 2022 and February 2023.
>>FEBRUARY 17, 2023
On February 17, 2023, a Klein High School employee meets with a Harris County investigator involved in Grigsby’s case. The school employee tells the detective that Grigsby “is an employee at Klein High School and possibly recruits young girls to work for her and her son.”
The school employee says her family member, the 18-year-old arrested with Magee and released, met Grigsby’s son on Instagram, and eventually moved into Grigsby’s home.
The school employee said she believed her family member was held at Grigsby’s home against her will and forced to prostitute between May and November of 2022.
The school employee tells the investigator that the family member said eight girls were working for Magee and Grigsby; however, the school employee did not know the teen’s names.
>>FEBRUARY 21, 2023
Four days later, on February 21, 2023, the same school employee writes a sworn Witness Statement and tells multiple senior-level Klein Independent School District officials that Grigsby was involved in sex trafficking the employee’s family member as well as other students.
KPRC 2 obtained a copy of the sworn statement, which says in part, “Kedria Grigsby aided in the sale, distribution of underage minor females (minimum of 8 girls; it could be more to come forward), one female being [a family member]”.
The Klein High School employee notes in their February 2023 sworn statement to the school district that they do not know Grigsby personally and haven’t met her at the school.
>>MARCH 22, 2023
Court records indicate a forensic report detailing Magee’s cell phone content was completed on March 22, 2023, and sent to an investigator involved in the case.
Court documents also note an investigator involved in the case didn’t review that forensic phone report until March 21, 2024, almost a full year later. KPRC 2 has reached out to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office asking why it took the investigator one year to review the report, but on the day we published the story, we’d not heard back.
The phone report details several text conversations between Grigsby and her son.
In a text exchange dated September 21, 2022, Magee reportedly asks his mother to print pictures showing Magee dressed in expensive clothes and holding a large sum of money.
“[Detectives] know through training and experience that traffickers will post photos of money that is made from their victim’s prostitution earnings on social media to show how much money he has made from victims,” according to an excerpt from court documents.
Grigsby, according to investigators, said her son did not work; however, in a September 2022 text exchange, Grigsby tells Magee that with all the money he is making, “we could have had 6 vending machines, a truck wrapped, and a couple of investments.”
In another text exchange dated November 7, 2022, between Grigsby and her son, Magee tells Grigsby to hurry to the hotel because the 16- and 18-year-olds were robbed by a “John.”
Additionally, court documents show text messages between the 18-year-old and Grigsby that deal with payments from “Johns” made to Grigsby’s Zelle account on the 18-year-old’s behalf.
Grigsby, according to investigators, sent that money to Magee via Cash App.
>>MARCH 21, 2024
Forensic phone records get reviewed by an investigator.
>>APRIL 8, 2024
Klein Cain High School cosmetology teacher Kedria Grigsby is arrested.
>>APRIL 12, 2024
Four days after Grigsby’s arrest, KPRC 2 talks with the now-former employee who, according to documents, alerted the Klein Cain High School and Harris County investigators in February of 2023 about sex trafficking accusations involving Grigsby.
KPRC 2 reached out to the school district after that conversation and Klein Independent School District issued a statement that says in part:
- In February 2023, an individual notified human resources that they had a report in Harris County related to Kedria Grigsby.
- Upon receiving this information, and as part of our immediate investigation into the allegation, our Klein ISD Police Department contacted the Harris County Sheriff’s Office with the case number provided to us by the individual. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office reported back to us that Kedria Grigsby was not a suspect.
- The district received no other allegations or reports of criminal activities related to Kedria Grigsby until this Monday, April 8, 2024, when the Harris County Sheriff’s Department contacted our police department regarding charges and a pending arrest.
- That same day, the Klein Police Department immediately apprehended Kedria Grigsby and assisted the Harris County Sheriff’s Office with her arrest.
KPRC 2 reached back out to Klein Independent School District asking for a comment on the “individual” who made the complaint against Grigsby in February 2023 and documents showing that the individual at the time was a Klein Cain High School employee.
The district declined further comment.
EXPERT WEIGHS IN
KPRC 2 spoke with Elizabeth Abdnour, an attorney in Michigan who specializes in school investigations.
She is not affiliated with the case, and KPRC 2 provided Abdnour with all of the publicly available information related to the case.
Abdnour noted the then-Klein Cain High School employee’s claims in February 2023 against Grigsby were pretty serious allegations. “It is very weird to me that the school district didn’t independently investigate the employee’s claims against Grigsby. At a minimum, the school district should’ve interviewed the employee’s family member so the district could get that side of the story.”
According to Abdnour, there are a few reasons why the school district should have gone further than making one or a few phone calls to the sheriff’s office.
“The police don’t know everything; sometimes they get it wrong. Also, the police may not want to share information in their investigation with the school district to protect the criminal investigation.”
“The school district should’ve found out what information the former employee had and questioned witnesses; the school district has a duty to ensure their school is safe, and it sounds like they fell short of that goal in this case.”
NO COMMENT FROM SCHOOL BOARD LEADERS
KPRC 2 has also reached out to Klein Independent School District’s board president, Cathy Arellano, and the school board’s vice president, Dustin Creager.
They both declined to comment for this story.
The then-Klein Independent School District employee who lodged the official claim against Grigsby said approximately one month after alerting the district, they were threatened with being fired if they didn’t resign within 24 hours.
EMPLOYEE WHO REPORTED ACCUSATIONS SAYS THEY’RE FORCED TO RESIGN
The former school employee was forced to submit their resignation because if the school district terminated them, the administration could flag their education certifications.
According to a source close to the investigation, the former school employee was terminated because a school official said they disrespected a student’s parent at a disciplinary hearing, even though those same parents had thanked the former employee for everything they’d done for their child.
The former school employee told KPRC 2 they had never faced any disciplinary issues while employed with the school district.
The now-former Klein Independent School District employee said, “The entire system dropped the ball. It’s terrible. I raised hell, and they just made me feel like I was crazy. Klein could have at least put pressure on Harris County investigators back in 2023 to follow up and review the text messages.
“No one took it seriously in 2023, and now the school district wants to act shocked after Grigsby got arrested.”