Child Sex Trafficking Suspect Arrested on Las Vegas Strip

Posted on: June 9, 2021, 01:44h. 

Last updated on: June 9, 2021, 02:32h.

Larry Henry Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

A 29-year-old man has been charged with sex trafficking a child on the Las Vegas Strip. He is accused of beating her and keeping the money she made as a prostitute, according to a report.

Marcus Marshal of North Las Vegas is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on June 22, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Marshal has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping a minor, sex trafficking a child, child abuse, and more. In some reports, his name is spelled “Marshall.”

Marshal met the underage female online while she was living at an unnamed facility in another state. In October 2020, he took her to Las Vegas, where she worked as a prostitute from November 2020 until January 2021, the newspaper reported. Her age was not provided.

Marshal concealed and kept her from her legal guardian for the purpose of engaging in prostitution,” according to a police report.

The girl engaged in 10 sexual acts as a prostitute, earning $1,000. Marshal kept her earnings from this activity, the newspaper reported.

Marshal also was violent and beat her, the girl told police. After seeking protective custody, she identified Marshal in a police photographic lineup, the newspaper reported. On June 2, Marshal was arrested in the 2800 block of the Strip. Circus Circus Hotel and Casino is among the properties on that block. 

Sex Suspect Seeks ‘Dominance’ 

At least two other recent sex trafficking arrests have occurred on the Las Vegas Strip.

On Memorial Day weekend, police arrested Clifton Ligons, 25, after he tried to choke an undercover police officer on the Strip to “assert dominance” over her, according to the newspaper. 

The California resident told the vice officer she was to split her earnings as a prostitute with him. He told her she could make $1,000 in 24 hours and that he had a firearm to protect her, authorities said. Ligons is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on June 29.

Ligons told police he is not a pimp, but wanted to “get whatever he could out of a female,” the newspaper reported.

Deportation Threatened

In another recent incident, a Las Vegas man identified as Byron Ochoa was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of sex trafficking and living from the earnings of a prostitute. He is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on June 30.

Ochoa, 56, coerced two women into prostitution on the Strip by threatening to report them as undocumented immigrants, police said.

“Byron threatened to make the government aware of her being in the United States without documents,” the report states.

These sex trafficking arrests come as Las Vegas police also are cracking down on illegal firearms and narcotics on the Strip. In once recent arrest, police confiscated a gold-plated AK-47.