FAYETTEVILLE, NC — A 4-year-old girl from Fayetteville who had been missing since early July was found safe in Texas Friday, police said.
Aubriana Recinos was reported missing July 8th.
Her father, Mario Recinos, traveled to Texas Friday to be reunited with her and planned to bring her back to Fayetteville as soon as possible.
Her mother, Carmen Lowe, 23, was arrested in New Orleans on Thursday as part of an FBI investigation of a human trafficking operation.
Police tracked her cellphone and used other means to locate her.
Aubriana was found in a home in Lewisville, Texas with members of a human trafficking operation.
Maj. Robert Ramirez, with Fayetteville Police Dept., said, "The child was pretty much given to a pimp an associate of the pimp or family of the pimp for keeping. It is a ring, a human trafficking ring, and the FBI was investigating. these individuals had other children as well."
Lowe was charged with prostitution, theft, and violating a custody order issued in Cumberland County, records show.
North Carolina consistently ranks among the top ten states for human trafficking, with 221 cases in 2017, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
