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A woman accused of accepting money in exchange for allowing a man to have sex with her young female relative was indicted on five felony charges Thursday by a Bowie County grand jury.
Della Lou Griffin, 53, allegedly began allowing John Littleton to have sex with her relative in exchange for money when the girl was 11, according to a probable cause affidavit. Griffin came to the attention of law enforcement during a Texas Department of Public Safety investigation into Littleton for human trafficking. Littleton died before he could be brought to trial.
Littleton’s roommate, Charles Garton, is serving a 180-year prison term he received for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. Another of Littleton’s associates, Kenneth Nelson, is serving five life terms for human trafficking. Nelson traded cash and drugs with teen girls in exchange for sex.
When investigators searched Littleton’s home on Meadow Drive in New Boston, Texas, in April 2018, they came across a VHS cassette tape labeled with a girl’s name. The tape contained multiple recordings of Littleton engaged in sexual activity with a girl investigators concluded was clearly underage.
Because of a news report announcing the filing of divorce papers by Lisa Marie Presley from Michael Jackson playing in the background of one of the recordings, investigators were able to determine the assaults occurred in January 1996.
The girl who is allegedly depicted in the recordings was interviewed by investigators. She allegedly identified herself as being 14 in the recordings and reported that Griffin began selling her to Littleton for sex when she was just 11.
Griffin was indicted Thursday for four counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Each of the four counts of sexual assault of a child is punishable by two to 20 years in prison. The aggravated charge is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison.
Griffin has been in jail since June 28. She was arrested after failing to appear June 18 for a pre-indictment court hearing in the case before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell.
