A Southlake mother is accused of sex trafficking, shocking a wealthy and gilded suburb

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2025/10/14/a-southlake-mother-is-
accused-of-sex-trafficking-shocking-a-wealthy-and-gilded-suburb/

SOUTHLAKE — It is parsed in text threads among friends and in murmurs at 
school pickup, details spilling onto neighborhood Facebook pages.

A Southlake mother’s indictment last month in a high-profile sex 
trafficking case has stunned this wealthy enclave. News that she worked as 
a substitute teacher at a local elementary school outraged and confounded 
many. Yet few seem eager to discuss the case publicly.

Jennifer Powers, 45, is accused of trafficking women to a New York City 
financier’s “sex dungeon,” in a penthouse near Central Park. Prosecutors 
say Powers recruited women for her boss, 70-year-old Wall Street executive 
Howard Rubin, for violent sex that included bondage and sadomasochism.

The sexual encounters went far beyond what the women said they signed up 
for. Frequently, they left maimed and bruised, with some requiring medical 
care and dental work, according to a 10-count indictment. Others fell 
unconscious during beatings, which took place in a soundproof room with 
red walls, a lock and sexual equipment for sadomasochistic acts, including 
one that delivered an electric shock to victims.

Officially, Powers worked as a personal assistant to Rubin. Prosecutors 
likened her role to a fixer responsible for logistics — recruiting and 
paying the women, arranging travel, making sure the women signed 
nondisclosure agreements and taking notes on encounters and whether her 
boss enjoyed them.

In return, prosecutors say Rubin paid Powers some $8 million to cover rent 
on her family’s Manhattan apartment, her children’s private school tuition 
in New York and the family’s credit card bills that totaled more than 
$500,000 each year between 2018 and 2023.

Rubin also covered the down payment and mortgage on the family’s home in 
Southlake’s Versailles neighborhood. A previous web listing says the 
5,500-square-foot brick house has a saltwater pool, a game room, media 
room and four-car garage.

Details of the case are difficult to square with Southlake’s reputation as 
a largely conservative and gilded suburb, a town nicknamed “the bubble” 
for its exclusivity, vaunted schools and picture-perfect town square.

“It’s mind-boggling how horrific this case is,” said Amy Smith, a 
Southlake mother of four who runs Watchkeep, a website that tracks sexual 
abuse cases. “And this is in our own backyard.”

‘Southlake bubble’
Powers, who was arrested last month in Southlake, pleaded not guilty at a 
federal court in New York City. Neither she nor her attorneys responded to 
requests for comment from The Dallas Morning News. At a court hearing in 
Fort Worth, Powers’ attorney called her a “stay-at-home mother.”

Little is publicly known about Powers’ time in Southlake. The News reached 
out to dozens who live or work in Southlake to understand how residents 
were responding to news of the charges. All but a handful of people 
declined to speak on the record, but many said the town was shocked and 
grappling with the details of the accusations.

This is not the first time crime has shattered the veneer of perfection in 
Southlake. In 2013, Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, 43, an influential lawyer 
for a drug cartel, U.S. informant and Southlake resident, was gunned down 
in a brazen mob-style hit in Southlake Town Square after getting frozen 
yogurt with his wife.

Earlier this month, Robert Morris, the former longtime pastor of Southlake 
megachurch Gateway, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl 
in Oklahoma decades ago. He was sentenced to six months in jail.

“It’s hard to accept the place you live and the people you trust aren’t 
what you think,” Smith said. “It’s not going to do any good to pretend the 
‘Southlake bubble’ protects us from bad behaviors.”

A controversial hire
Even before the arrest, Powers faced startling accusations. In 2017, three 
women filed a civil lawsuit against Powers and Rubin, accusing the pair of 
luring women from across the country to New York so Rubin could violently 
assault them. Three more women later joined the suit.

With that case pending, Powers — who was born in El Paso and attended high 
school in Richardson — moved with her husband and three children from New 
York City to Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They settled in a 
quiet neighborhood in Southlake, where winding roads cut through 
subdivisions with names like Carillon, Estes Park and Coventry Manor.

Although she was still benefitting financially from her work for Rubin, 
prosecutors say the trafficking operation ran from 2009 to 2019, ending 
before she moved to Southlake. Southlake Police Capt. Blas Hernandez said 
there is no indication that trafficking continued in Southlake.

A jury found Powers not liable in 2022, but Rubin was ordered to pay about 
$3.8 million to the six women, as well as cover their attorney fees and 
costs.

Still, many in Southlake have asked why Carroll ISD hired Powers, given 
the nature of the allegations and salacious details in the public civil 
suit. In a page-long statement to the community, school board president 
Cam Bryan acknowledged Powers worked for the district but did not mention 
her by name or say how long or where she worked.

Carroll followed all hiring requirements set by the Texas Education 
Agency, including fingerprint-based criminal background checks, Bryan 
said. He declined to answer further questions from The News.

District spokesman Jeff Brady later told The News that Powers was hired in 
2024 and worked at only one school, Old Union Elementary. Powers received 
her Texas education license in August of this year, just weeks before her 
arrest. That license is under review, according to the TEA.

The Rev. Alan Bentrup, rector for St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal 
Church in Southlake, said the case has shocked so many people because of 
the “special vulnerability when it comes to our schools.”

In Southlake, schools are not simply schools. They are emblematic of the 
town’s success, wealth and identity. All 11 schools in the district earned 
As in this year’s state academic accountability rankings.

The school’s football team has captured eight state championships and 
three national titles. In 2023, the average SAT score was more than 250 
points higher than the state’s average. Nearly 100% of seniors graduate 
from Carroll Senior High School and roughly 98% go on to attend a college 
or university.

Across the district, every school’s mascot is a dragon, creating a 
powerful bond that ties together the city of 30,000. “The Dragon isn’t 
just a mascot; it’s a way of life,” Southlake Style, a community magazine, 
once wrote. The district’s motto is clear: “Protect the Tradition.”

At the recent homecoming parade, families flooded the town square. Young 
boys in green Dragon jerseys tossed footballs, and young girls wearing 
Dragon cheerleader costumes gathered in clusters. Everyone here is a 
Dragon.

“Southlake’s schools are its crown jewels,” Bentrup said. “The schools 
have helped Southlake maintain a close-knit community and a real identity, 
which isn’t easy to do in a booming metroplex of a million suburbs.”

Southlake regularly ranks among the wealthiest suburbs in the country, 
with a median household income of nearly $275,000 a year, more than three 
times than the rest of Texas. It is largely white, nearly 70%, although 
the share of Asian and Latino families has grown in recent years. The town 
draws professional athletes and CEOs alike.

Elisha Rurka, who has lived in Southlake for 15 years, said the town also 
draws out-of-towners, such as Powers, looking for community and excellent 
schools. She jokes that she lived here for years before meeting someone 
actually from Southlake.

“Everybody is from somewhere else,” Rurka said. “People move here wanting 
to connect and be part of a community, and it’s a very welcoming 
community.”

After news of Powers’ arrest, many in town scoured social media and the 
internet for photos. They were surprised by what they found, Rurka said.

“She looks like a normal Southlake mom, with a normal Southlake family 
doing normal Southlake activities,” she said. “The fact is you just never 
know.”


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama 
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.