BATON ROUGE — Attorney General Liz Murrill formally brought charges against a man accused of sex trafficking a 16-year-old girl who had been missing for two years.

The AG filed the indictment Wednesday, charging 27-year-old Tramon Criss with human trafficking and two counts of pornography involving juveniles. 

An arrest warrant for Tramon Criss says officers found the 16-year-old at the Crown Efficiency Extended Stay along Airline Highway on March 26 while investigating a reported theft. Officers spoke to the girl, who had been missing since 2024 and "was not in school, not staying in her parent's home, traveling with adults that were not related to her, and had no job."

The warrant said it was previously documented that the girl may have been with Criss. Her family described him as her "boyfriend." The victim said the two had been dating for two years, although officers noted that the 11-year age gap would have made it illegal for the two to engage in a sexual relationship.

After receiving a search warrant for the girl's phone, officers found multiple online ads for commercial sex featuring multiple pictures of the teen, including nude photographs. Messages showed Criss was "coordinating 'dates' for the victim, reminding her how much money to collect, which app to send the payments to, and which photos he preferred to post of her," the warrant said.

The victim told BRPD that the two got in a fight the week before officers arrived at her hotel room. She said Criss accused her of "tryna run off by yourself with 'Our' business," and "catch sales that's supposed to be for both of us."

Criss was arrested in April and initially booked on felony counts of human trafficking and carnal knowledge of a juvenile.