A Humble mother is facing felony charges after prosecutors say she used her teenage daughter as a surrogate through years of alleged sexual abuse. Court records accuse the woman of trafficking a child or disabled individual and continuous sexual abuse of a child.
Charges in Alleged Abuse Case
According to court records cited by Click2Houston, the woman is accused of using her teenage daughter as a surrogate through repeated sexual abuse, and of participating in alleged sexual assault involving another child. Felony charges against the woman were filed last week, and she was not in custody at the time of publication, the outlet reports.
The case against Maria follows the conviction of her husband, referred to in the report as Derek, who a Harris County jury found guilty in August 2026 of aggravated sexual assault of a child involving his stepdaughter. Per court records, Derek is now serving a life sentence in state prison stemming from that conviction.
Allegations Describe Years of Abuse Disguised as Surrogacy
According to the teenage daughter, a man began propositioning her for sex when she was a teenager and described the arrangement as a way for her to serve as a surrogate because her mother could not have children. The mother was allegedly present during the daughter's first assault and participated in the plan for her to become pregnant, according to the report. The daughter said she needed to get pregnant for her mother, and gave birth to a daughter in 2009, later having several more children fathered by the man.
Maria allegedly concealed Lena's pregnancies, presented some of Lena's children as her own, and pretended to be pregnant herself, including allegedly pretending to go to the hospital to give birth to Ava, the outlet reports.
Second Daughter's Disclosure Triggers Investigation
The case became public after a daughter disclosed abuse to others, prompting an investigation by the Humble Police Department.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the case.
What the Charges Carry Under Texas Law
Texas's child-trafficking statute addresses knowingly trafficking a child and causing the child to engage in sexual conduct or labor. Under Texas Penal Code Section 21.02, continuous sexual abuse of a young child is a first-degree felony carrying a mandatory minimum of 25 years up to life in prison, with parole eligibility barred until the full 25-year minimum has been served. Trafficking a child or disabled individual under Texas Penal Code Section 20A.02 is likewise a first-degree felony, punishable by 5 to 99 years or life imprisonment along with mandatory lifetime sex offender registration, according to the Crowder Criminal Firm.
The family's description of the arrangement as surrogacy stands apart from what Texas civil law actually permits. Texas Family Code Chapter 160 Subchapter I strictly regulates gestational surrogacy, explicitly prohibiting traditional surrogacy using a carrier's own eggs or conception through sexual intercourse, and requiring court-validated gestational agreements before any assisted reproduction takes place, according to the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC.
A Broader Pattern in Family-Facilitated Trafficking
Cases involving a parent as the alleged trafficker are not isolated nationally. A 2022 survey by the Institute for Shelter Care found that family-facilitated cases make up roughly 26% of domestic minor sex trafficking cases, with mothers acting as the primary trafficker in about two-thirds of those familial instances.
Harris County has built specific infrastructure to handle cases like this one. The Harris County District Attorney's Office maintains a specialized Crimes Against Children Division dedicated to prosecuting intra-familial sexual abuse, long-term abuse patterns, and multi-victim child exploitation cases. Separately, the Children's Assessment Center serves Harris County.
The case adds to a string of recent Harris County-area child sex abuse prosecutions, including an arrest on a similar warrant out of Spring, Texas last month.
