Speaker 1: Zeffi Trevino was a normal teenage girl growing up outside
Speaker 1: of Dallas, Texas, with a life that revolved around family, church,
Speaker 1: and softball. When Zeffie got to high school, though, a
Speaker 1: boyfriend introduced her to drugs and then broke her heart.
Speaker 1: Then nineteen year old Philip Baldo Negro swooped in through
Speaker 1: social media to pray on this vulnerable high school sophomore.
Speaker 1: Bald Negro introduced himself to Zeffie's parents as a friend
Speaker 1: of Zeffie's from school, and soon used psychological manipulation, violence,
Speaker 1: and intimidation to drag Zeffi into the dark underworld of
Speaker 1: sex trafficking. Alarming changes in Zeffi's behavior prompted Henry and
Speaker 1: Crystal Trevino to install a tracking app on their daughter's phone,
Speaker 1: but this didn't stop bald Negro from using Zeffie's body
Speaker 1: and her misery for his profit. Then, on August two
Speaker 1: men were lured to an apartment with the promise of
Speaker 1: sex with Zeffi. The men were robbed instead by Balda
Speaker 1: Negro and an accomplice, and a fight broke out, resulting
Speaker 1: in Balda Negro shooting and killing one of the would
Speaker 1: be child rapists. This is going to be a first
Speaker 1: for this podcast, an interview that takes place before trial,
Speaker 1: before a grave mistake is made, where I speak with
Speaker 1: Zeppi's lawyer, Justin Moore and her mother, Crystal Travino. Zeffi
Speaker 1: is currently out of Juvie awaiting trial while the Dallas
Speaker 1: County District Attorney tries to charge her for her sex
Speaker 1: traffickers crime, compounding what has already been an unbelievably tragic
Speaker 1: experience by potentially sending Zeffy to spend the rest of
Speaker 1: her life in prison. This is Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam. That's me.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, of course, and today we are going
Speaker 1: telling a story that is happening in real time and
Speaker 1: beyond that. It's a story that is so disturbing. You know,
Speaker 1: I think that anyone who's a parent while then may
Speaker 1: be hard to hear. It's something that you need to hear.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be action steps at the end of it,
Speaker 1: and there are things we can do to make a difference.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be telling the story today of a young
Speaker 1: teenage girl named Zeffie Trevino, who was sex trafficked then
Speaker 1: re victimized by the authorities at a time when they
Speaker 1: should have and I believe did no better. First, I
Speaker 1: want to introduce to you and emerging giant in the
Speaker 1: defense community. Justin Moore, who is Zeffie's lawyer, is here, suggin.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Ronthal Conviction. Thank you, Jason, And today with
Speaker 1: us is one of the most courageous and strong women
Speaker 1: I've ever had the privilege to know. Zeffie's mom, Crystal
Speaker 1: Trevino is here. So Crystal, thank you for being here
Speaker 1: with us today. Thank you so much, Jason. So, this
Speaker 1: is a story of a young girl from I'm gonna
Speaker 1: is call it a normal family. What whatever normal is.
Speaker 1: This is a nuclear family in a town in Texas
Speaker 1: outside of Dallas. This took place in Grand Prairie, Texas,
Speaker 1: which is between Dallas and Fort Worth, just a suburb city.
Speaker 1: Tell us about Zeffie growing up and about the family
Speaker 1: situation prior to this disastrous chain of events. Like you said,
Speaker 1: we're a normal family. She was into sports, softball, specifically volleyball.
Speaker 1: She loves music, she loves to sing. She was just
Speaker 1: kind of one of those kids that people were drawn to,
Speaker 1: very charismatic, laughing, having fun, and really supported by her siblings.
Speaker 1: You know, she has three older siblings, two sisters and
Speaker 1: a brother, her church family and the community, my husband
Speaker 1: and myself softball coaches, so just what I would consider
Speaker 1: everybody's normal family. And as she entered into high school
Speaker 1: a young may and her freshman year introduced her to
Speaker 1: drugs and the toxic relationship, and so Zeffie struggled with
Speaker 1: that her freshman year. Going into her sophomore year, which
Speaker 1: was her sixteenth birthday year, we saw so many changes,
Speaker 1: not just physically, mentally starting to have a lot of
Speaker 1: anxiety and withdraw from her family, and to see her
Speaker 1: sleep a lot, and see herly's weight and just what
Speaker 1: I would consider vulnerable. You know, she was trying to
Speaker 1: overcome all these things that had happened from the previous boyfriend.
Speaker 1: And we didn't realize, but she meets Philip through social media.
Speaker 1: Um May of twenty nineteen, we met Philip in our home.
Speaker 1: When we met him, he just did not seem the
Speaker 1: type of person that Zeph and I would normally be
Speaker 1: associated with. Very quiet, very strange. She didn't introduce him
Speaker 1: as her boyfriend just as a friend, and asked how
Speaker 1: they knew each other. He said through cool and also
Speaker 1: said that he was seventeen at the time. My daughter
Speaker 1: was sixteen. So and of course we're talking about nineteen
Speaker 1: year old Philip bald Negro who had already I guess,
Speaker 1: identified her as a potential target and was already sort
Speaker 1: of using the various mind games and other coercive tactics
Speaker 1: to sort of draw her into his web. You know,
Speaker 1: the way this thing unraveled, it reminds me as much
Speaker 1: as anything of the movie Cape Fear with Robert de Niro,
Speaker 1: because this Bald the Negro character, you know, began keeping
Speaker 1: Zeffie out all hours of the night. The Trevinos, to
Speaker 1: their credit, Henry and Crystal, it's all the tracking gapp
Speaker 1: on her phone, because they obviously knew that things were
Speaker 1: not right with this new person in her life. Little
Speaker 1: could they have known just how bad it was. But
Speaker 1: then one night she didn't come home at all. The
Speaker 1: tracking app was deleted and her phone had been turned off.
Speaker 1: You know, we had the Life three six app for
Speaker 1: kids on there that turns off social media tracks. But
Speaker 1: when it's deleted, you know, your hands are tied. They
Speaker 1: communicated through text and I always thought that it was
Speaker 1: my daughter texting. I can't even say that for sure
Speaker 1: now that it wasn't Helm texting saying that the movie
Speaker 1: was over and that they would be home after eating
Speaker 1: a small bite, and and then she's gone. It was
Speaker 1: investigated as a missing person's case. She came home two
Speaker 1: days later, hadn't eaten anything, and was she was wearing
Speaker 1: clothes that had not been provided to her by the family.
Speaker 1: So all the alarm bells are going off. You know,
Speaker 1: my gut wish she was on drugs and and to
Speaker 1: see your child declined the way that she did, it
Speaker 1: was very hard to understand what was going on because
Speaker 1: it was happening so fast. What did you do at
Speaker 1: that point? And what could you advise other parents to
Speaker 1: do in that situation? You know you're trusting and and
Speaker 1: and I'll say this, Jason, that you know I've worked
Speaker 1: in a school district, so I always saw kids differently,
Speaker 1: I guess in my eyes. So I never wanted to
Speaker 1: just point blank be like this kid is no good. Um.
Speaker 1: But I look back on it now and I think
Speaker 1: I felt it. I knew it, And so as a parent,
Speaker 1: if your gut is telling you this is not a
Speaker 1: good thing. This is not a good idea. They shouldn't
Speaker 1: have gone out to the movies. Go with your gut feeling.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what could have been done other than
Speaker 1: you know, for parents, I would suggest be on that
Speaker 1: social media on their phones. Do whatever you can. And
Speaker 1: I hate to say this, but they don't have privacy.
Speaker 1: Do whatever you have to do to protect your kid.
Speaker 1: The predator that entered my daughter's life looked like the
Speaker 1: normal teenage person and was able to manipulate, threaten, change her,
Speaker 1: change everything that was happening in our life and in
Speaker 1: her life. At the time. What I understood sex trafficking
Speaker 1: to be looked totally different than what has happened in
Speaker 1: our family. I always pictured the movie Taken, where your
Speaker 1: kid is kidnapped and taken across you know, countries, and
Speaker 1: it's happening right here, right here in America, right here
Speaker 1: in Texas, and it can happen to any young girl
Speaker 1: that's vulnerable or is trusting a young boy. And we
Speaker 1: know now that this was a very violent guy. And
Speaker 1: this is I think a tactic that is not uncommon,
Speaker 1: which is that the trafficker will once they identify and
Speaker 1: they coerce their victim into this web, they will then
Speaker 1: use threats of violence or actual violence against them, but
Speaker 1: also against their family. So they put the child in
Speaker 1: an impossible situation where they're saying, look, if you try
Speaker 1: to run away or you try to tell the authorities
Speaker 1: about us or whatever, we're gonna harm your family. We
Speaker 1: might kill your family. And when you're sitting there in
Speaker 1: that situation and you recognize that this is a person
Speaker 1: who is capable of extreme violence, in fact you're on
Speaker 1: the receiving end of it, there's every reason that you
Speaker 1: should take those threats seriously. And that's exactly what Zeffie
Speaker 1: was experiencing. And then things got really insane. On August three,
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, and around four thirty pm, twenty four
Speaker 1: year old Carlos Matrio and another man went to an
Speaker 1: apartment on the three block of Northeast fifth Street in
Speaker 1: Grand Prairie, Texas. They were lured there by the promise
Speaker 1: of sex with Zeffie. Bald the Negro and an accomplice,
Speaker 1: Jesse Martinez, surprised and robbed the men. A fight broke out,
Speaker 1: resulting in Bald the Negro shooting and killing Mario. And
Speaker 1: I do want to turn to you, Justin's if you
Speaker 1: can explain how this turned into it turned into with
Speaker 1: Zeffie being charged with capital murder for a shooting that
Speaker 1: no one claims that she committed. No one. When the
Speaker 1: Trevinos reached out to me and they explained the details
Speaker 1: of this case, it was something that really grabbed me immediately.
Speaker 1: And I can't speak to specifics because I'm bound to
Speaker 1: confidentiality laws regarding miners. But what I can talk about
Speaker 1: are the facts that are incontrovertible at the moment. What
Speaker 1: we do know is that Balda Negro has admitted to
Speaker 1: being the shooter. And we do know that the two
Speaker 1: men that one of which was murdered, but the other
Speaker 1: one that was assaulted by Balda Negro and his accomplice,
Speaker 1: they were there to purchase sex from a minor child.
Speaker 1: You know, these facts are incontrovertible. Everybody knows that these
Speaker 1: are the facts. There's not one person on any side
Speaker 1: of this that claims that she shot a gun held
Speaker 1: a gun. I mean, here's a young girl in a
Speaker 1: place that she's not in of her own free will,
Speaker 1: and then a dispute breaks out in the middle of
Speaker 1: a robbery that results in a murder. So what was
Speaker 1: she supposed to put on some sort of superhero cape
Speaker 1: and try to stop them. I mean, she was there
Speaker 1: because she was in the process of being kidnapped, and
Speaker 1: she was being held there so that somebody could make
Speaker 1: money by selling her body. And I hate saying it,
Speaker 1: I hate hearing myself say it, but that's what it was.
Speaker 1: So then this murder takes place and Zeppy, a victim,
Speaker 1: a child sex trafficking victim, is now being charged as
Speaker 1: a perpetrator. What has been widely reported was that Zeffy
Speaker 1: was in pre trial custody in the Dallas County Juvenile
Speaker 1: Facility for a year awaiting trial, and obviously that's spilled
Speaker 1: into the COVID nineteen pandemic. I definitely want to commend you, Jason.
Speaker 1: A lot of the attention that you brought this case
Speaker 1: allowed for Zeffy to be released pre trial, along with
Speaker 1: the legal work too. But I actually got worried about
Speaker 1: this from Crystal and Henry, Zeffie's parents. The Dallas District
Speaker 1: Attorney's office is actually trying to certify her as an adult,
Speaker 1: so if she gets certified as an adult. She's going
Speaker 1: to be facing life in prison. And if she takes
Speaker 1: this to trial, and god forbid, loses at trial, she's
Speaker 1: facing conviction as an adult for being a victim. It's
Speaker 1: a failed social policy in which we allow a young
Speaker 1: child who has been victimized severely to be placed in
Speaker 1: this position, to be doubly victimized by the criminal justice system.
Speaker 1: She was sixteen, she was a child. There were four
Speaker 1: grown men in that place. She was the only one
Speaker 1: that was a child. She is a victim. She was
Speaker 1: being sex traffic. She did not pull the trigger, she
Speaker 1: did not beat them, she did not steal anything. I
Speaker 1: really have a hard time understanding why my daughter is
Speaker 1: in this situation. Any time I read about a state
Speaker 1: trying to decide whether to try a child as an adult.
Speaker 1: Who gets to decide whether a child is an adult?
Speaker 1: Is that like deciding whether up is down? A child
Speaker 1: is a child. When you're sixteen, you don't know shit
Speaker 1: about anything. The world is still a mystery. So how
Speaker 1: do the state of Texas get to even say, on
Speaker 1: a broad legal principle, justin that that this child is
Speaker 1: an adult. We've decided that she's an adult as a
Speaker 1: general principle. As a broad legal principle, states, especially the
Speaker 1: state of Texas, I can try a child as an
Speaker 1: adult when it comes to the severity of the crime
Speaker 1: or if the child, through a diagnostic exam, has shown
Speaker 1: themselves to a mental type of nature that implies some
Speaker 1: level of criminality that goes up and beyond what a
Speaker 1: child should exhibit. I mean, I think it's very abstract stuff.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, children or children, if
Speaker 1: you're under the age of eighteen, you can't contract to
Speaker 1: do anything with your life. You need a parent's consent.
Speaker 1: But yet when it comes to the criminal justice system,
Speaker 1: they completely ignore this element when it comes to the
Speaker 1: mental state or the men's raya of a of a
Speaker 1: young child. So as a broad principle, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: well settled that, you know, children can be tried as
Speaker 1: adults in certain context, but practically speaking, I think this
Speaker 1: policy should be eradicated from society. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: also you have to look at the legacy of racism
Speaker 1: when it comes to trying children as adults. I mean
Speaker 1: it comes from this notion of typically back in Jim
Speaker 1: Crow era, in which the criminal justice system endeavored to
Speaker 1: try young black men as adults to answer for crimes
Speaker 1: in a very serious way that provided retribution or some
Speaker 1: type of blood lust. One of the cases that haunts
Speaker 1: me is the case of George Stinny Jr. Right, George
Speaker 1: Stinney Jr. Of course, he was found innocent years and
Speaker 1: years later. In nineteen forty four, was a fourteen year
Speaker 1: old boy who was charged with murdering two little white girls.
Speaker 1: His trial took two hours, the jury deliberated for ten minutes.
Speaker 1: That he was executed. He had to sit on a
Speaker 1: fucking telephone book because he was so small in order
Speaker 1: for them to even electrocute him. And of course he
Speaker 1: has been exonerated. But a lot of good that does.
Speaker 1: So that goes right back to your point. That's the
Speaker 1: that's the grotesque history of treating children like adults in
Speaker 1: our criminal legal system. There's no other place in society
Speaker 1: where a sixteen year old is considered an adult. The
Speaker 1: fact that we have a young child who was a
Speaker 1: victim of sex trafficking now possibly being exposed to life
Speaker 1: in prison. I just don't understand why that's the policy here.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why Dallas County is pursuing this. You know,
Speaker 1: We had public defenders at the very beginning of this
Speaker 1: case and they told us she's not being certified as
Speaker 1: an adult. She is certified as a juvenile. So fast
Speaker 1: forward a year. How do you determine someone was a
Speaker 1: child then and an adult then? And no one has
Speaker 1: been able to answer that for me. If you're sixteen,
Speaker 1: you're sixteen, you're a child. How do you say she's
Speaker 1: an adult. I don't understand that you want to certify
Speaker 1: a child sex trafficking victim as an adult. It's almost
Speaker 1: perverted in a way. It's almost you're saying that, no,
Speaker 1: she was actually voluntarily selling herself for sex. And we
Speaker 1: know as children you came and enter a contract for
Speaker 1: anything at a at that age. So I don't want
Speaker 1: to sound like a broken record, but no child can
Speaker 1: enter into a contract, especially a sex contract, But certifying
Speaker 1: them as an adult kind of counteracts that well settled
Speaker 1: legal principle. Where are we now and what can people
Speaker 1: do about it? I think people can join in the
Speaker 1: advocacy that you have been doing. An other folks, other
Speaker 1: thought leaders in the space, have been joining in on
Speaker 1: getting the word out and lifting our voices and showing
Speaker 1: the powers that be here in Dallas County that this
Speaker 1: isn't right is going to be a very important element
Speaker 1: of assisting Zeffie in overcoming these charges. To donate to
Speaker 1: the legal defense, go to directly to dot org. There's
Speaker 1: also a petition that you can sign on change dot org.
Speaker 1: And there's a form letter to the d A that
Speaker 1: you can sign on Action network dot org. And of
Speaker 1: course follow the hashtag free is that on Instagram you
Speaker 1: can also get updates from me at It's Jason Flam.
Speaker 1: That's my Instagram at It's Jason Flam. Will have all
Speaker 1: of these action steps linked in the bio pressure breaks
Speaker 1: pipes and Jason, thank you for everything that you've done.
Speaker 1: We really really appreciate this interview. We appreciate the support,
Speaker 1: you know, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Cintoyo Brown, who herself
Speaker 1: has gone through a tremendous story of her own, everyone
Speaker 1: that has supported Zeffie um since they've heard this story.
Speaker 1: There are many other victims that are out there. They
Speaker 1: need a voice, they need help. Every voice, every post, Instagram, letter, written,
Speaker 1: phone call, all of those things help not only Zephania
Speaker 1: but the legal system kind of take a closer look
Speaker 1: at what's happening, especially here in Texas, and to help
Speaker 1: the d A recognize the truth of this case. It's
Speaker 1: almost like we're so ashamed as a country that this
Speaker 1: actually goes on that we don't even talk about it.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad you mentioned Cintoya Lisa Montgomery. Of course,
Speaker 1: there's a wonderful story the flip side of a woman
Speaker 1: named Tara Simmons, a dear friend of mine who was
Speaker 1: sex trafficked as a young teenage girl, was in prison
Speaker 1: and now has ended up graduating at the top of
Speaker 1: a class from the University of Washington law School and
Speaker 1: is now an elected representative in the state of Washington.
Speaker 1: And I'm so freaking proud of her, and I hope
Speaker 1: that the future is gonna look, you know, as bright
Speaker 1: for Zeffie, and that she's gonna get through this. Hopefully
Speaker 1: the attorney will drop the charges and basically acknowledged that
Speaker 1: this was a mistake. So now we turned to the
Speaker 1: closing of our show, which is I think the best
Speaker 1: part every week. It's my favorite part. It's a part
Speaker 1: we call closing arguments. First of all, I thank each
Speaker 1: of you. Justin Moore, Defense Attorney and Social Justice advocate,
Speaker 1: thank you for being here. And Crystal Trevino, thank you
Speaker 1: for you know, showing us all what courage looks like.
Speaker 1: And and now I get to turn my microphone off
Speaker 1: and we my headphones on and just listen as each
Speaker 1: of you can share your thoughts on anything you want
Speaker 1: to share your thoughts on, and Justin let's have you
Speaker 1: go first, if that's okay, and save Crystal for a
Speaker 1: last thank you Jackson. I mean, in conclusion, I think
Speaker 1: this case is the canary in the cave. Sex trafficking
Speaker 1: is pervasive throughout our society, and sex trafficking including miners
Speaker 1: is equally pervasive. If you want to put it into this,
Speaker 1: we have to start with the criminal justice system and
Speaker 1: how it treats victims that are placed in these precarious positions.
Speaker 1: The criminal justice system endeavors not to acknowledge that victimhood.
Speaker 1: We're going to further stigmatize these folks who are involved
Speaker 1: and ensnared in these trauma bonds with these traffickers, and
Speaker 1: we're not going to empower them to step up and
Speaker 1: speak out about the abuse that they are a part of.
Speaker 1: So we need people to advocate for a criminal justice
Speaker 1: system that has compassion but also nuanced when it looks
Speaker 1: at sex trafficking victims. Until we have that, this is
Speaker 1: going to continue to be an issue and we need
Speaker 1: to start protecting folks who can't protect themselves. Crystal, Well, again,
Speaker 1: thank you for giving us this opportunity to speak. Dallas County.
Speaker 1: The legal system in general has not even acknowledged that
Speaker 1: my child was a victim, and she continues to be victimized.
Speaker 1: Sex trafficking doesn't look like what we all have in
Speaker 1: our head or what we've been told or what's been
Speaker 1: on the news. Yes, those are very real situations, but
Speaker 1: sex trafficking can be the young adult next door, most
Speaker 1: victims in any situation of abuse, or people that you
Speaker 1: know and people that you have come to trust. I
Speaker 1: ask that there be some resources for parents when this
Speaker 1: is all that and done to help recognize signs, because
Speaker 1: it is heartbreaking and it is every much a part
Speaker 1: of our life from here on out. I've said this
Speaker 1: before that this is the battle before us right now
Speaker 1: to get her free. But we will continue to battle
Speaker 1: and will continue to heal from every aspect of this,
Speaker 1: from the law, from her being in juvenile, from her
Speaker 1: being victimized, for her being sex trafficked and sexually abused.
Speaker 1: Thank you for saying we're courageous, but I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: it is truly by our faith and God that has
Speaker 1: held us and has kept us. My prayer would be
Speaker 1: that the legal system recognized my daughter as a sex
Speaker 1: traffic victim and they change the law because she's not
Speaker 1: the only one I know that. I know there are
Speaker 1: other young women and probably men that have gone through this.
Speaker 1: And when a sex traffic victim or victim in general
Speaker 1: speaks out and you do nothing, you're literally saying they
Speaker 1: don't matter. Everyone, please keep us in prayer, Um, pray
Speaker 1: for the d A to open his eyes and recognize
Speaker 1: and do something about it and dropped this case. Don't
Speaker 1: forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud donor
Speaker 1: to the Innocence Project and I really hope you'll join
Speaker 1: me in supporting this very important cause and helping to
Speaker 1: prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot org
Speaker 1: to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like
Speaker 1: to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin wardis
Speaker 1: the music on the show. Is by three time OSCAR
Speaker 1: nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on
Speaker 1: Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast.
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava
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