Brian Sevald
Audio By Carbonatix
A 23-year-old man from Denton was indicted on six felony charges Thursday after police found and rescued a 15-year-old girl being held against her will in his apartment, Denton police say.
According to a statement released by the Denton Police Department, Frisco police officers reached out to the Denton department on Aug. 22 to report the whereabouts of a missing Frisco teenager. The teenager had made contact with officers and reported that she was being kept in the Denton apartment of Jordan Hagen and was not being permitted to leave, police say.
Denton, Frisco and University of North Texas police officers went to the apartment, in the 1700 block of W. Oak Street, across from the UNT campus. The victim was located and taken to a local hospital, and Hagen was arrested without incident, police say.
When reached for comment, and to ask if Hagen was in some way affiliated with the school, a UNT spokesperson told the Observer: “We are proud and grateful that the UNT police department was able to assist to the Denton Police in the arrest … the University was not otherwise involved.”
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Investigators believe that Hagen made contact with the teen through an online chat room called Chatib, and that the two communicated through a messaging app called Session. Police believe Hagen picked the victim up in Frisco and transported her back to Denton.
A grand jury has charged Hagen with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, trafficking of persons, indecency with a child, online solicitation of a minor and possession or promotion of lewd visual material. He remains in the Denton County Jail on a bond of $325,000.
According to the Tooele Transcript Bulletin, a newspaper that covers Tooele County west of Salt Lake City in Utah, this isn’t Hagen’s first brush with the law. The Transcript Bulletin reports that in July, Hagen was charged with two second-degree felony charges of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in the Tooele Third District Court after falling for a prostitution sting led by local police.
The outlet reports that in August 2023, a Tooele City police officer began posing online as a father offering his nine-year-old daughter for prostitution. Police say that Hagen responded to the post and began making arrangements to visit Utah to have sex with the minor, planning to visit between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
