A man in Houston, Texas, channeled Liam Neeson’s character in the hit movie ‘Taken’ when he tracked down his daughter and her alleged captor after the teenager had been lured by the pedophile through the social media app Snapchat.

In the hit movie, Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a retired CIA agent who will do anything it takes to rescue his daughter after she is kidnapped.

In real life, Texan Irish American John Clark, an energy executive, used private resources to help track down his 16-year-old daughter who was lured into the sex trade by a 20-year-old man.

Clark said his daughter was groomed by the man via Snapchat and later met him at a party. Then, one day his daughter just disappeared.

“There was trouble lurking out there,” said Clark. “We had no idea how bad it is.”

He told KHOU 11: "What happened is very private, and embarrassing, and humiliating.”

Clark, who took matters into his own hands and used his resources to track his daughter and her alleged captor at a Houston apartment building, said he has nothing against the police.

"It's just they're not set up to do that, they're set up to slowly, methodically build an airtight case. And in the time it would've taken to build an airtight case, I would've lost my daughter," he said.

His daughter is now taking a residential therapy program to recover from the trauma. According to court records, her alleged captor pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution of a minor.

Clark has started an online petition to help strengthen anti-human trafficking laws and hopes to collect 1,00,000 signatures to ensure his message about sex trade gains enough attention.

“In the petition I’ve written, I’ve given specifics on criminals who’ve been pursued, arrested, prosecuted, and convicted,” he said. “And get nothing,” he added.

The petition can be found here.