Arkansas Trucking Company Owner Charged In Human Trafficking Case

The owner of an Arkansas-based trucking company has been charged with rape, patronizing a victim of human trafficking and sexual indecency with a child, according to police records.

Police documents allege that Hugh O. Daniels, 73, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, "paid to rape" two teenage girls, ages 14 and 16, who were victims of sex trafficking, at the Bel-Air Motel and Apartments, located in North Little Rock, in mid-September, according to the news outlet Arkansas Online.

Daniels owns Hugh O. Daniels Trucking Company, a local dump truck and excavating business. He was released from the Pulaski County jail on September 27 after posting a $100,000 bond, a court clerk told FreightWaves.

"After the prosecutors review the case in detail they will determine if there are going to be additional charges filed," North Little Rock detective Julie Eckert told FreightWaves.

Also arrested was Kimberly Latrice Hatton, 34, who was charged with rape and is listed as an offender in the human trafficking case. She is listed as a family member of the victims, the news outlet reported.

Hatton's bond was set at $60,000, but she is still in custody at the Pulaski County jail, a court clerk told FreightWaves.

The arrests of Daniels and Hatton occurred after a 17-year-old boy reported an alleged human trafficking ring involving minors to the North Little Rock Police Department.

If convicted, Daniels faces up to 30 years in prison because patronizing a victim of human trafficking is a Class A felony when the victim is a minor, according to Arkansas law.

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