Louisiana Casino Sex Assault, Robbery Suspect Remains in Jail, Faces Criminal Trial

Posted on: March 7, 2022, 08:12h. 

Last updated on: March 7, 2022, 12:02h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A 30-year-old man remained in Calcasieu Correctional Center early this week for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at a Lake Charles, La. gaming property hotel.

Travis W. Carter
Travis W. Carter in a mug shot. pictured above. He allegedly sexually assaulted and robbed a woman at a Louisiana casino hotel. (Image: Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office)

Travis W. Carter of Linden, Tenn. was arrested last week and charged with first-degree rape and two counts each of armed robbery and armed robbery with the use of a firearm.

The victim initially communicated with Carter online. The two met in person at an unnamed casino on Feb. 23.

When Carter was alone with the victim in a hotel at the Louisiana casino. He then brandished a firearm and sexually assaulted her in the room, authorities revealed. He also allegedly robbed her while holding the gun.

Carter then left the hotel room and saw an acquaintance of the victim by hotel elevators. She was forced to go to the hotel room. He then also robbed that second woman while holding a firearm, authorities said.

Carter was apprehended by the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office at an unnamed Lake Charles casino on March 2. Detectives claim he gave various versions of events in connection with the incident.

Local media reports did not identify the casino where the sex assault and robberies took place. But major Lake Charles gaming venues include the Golden Nugget, Isle of Capri, and the L’Auberge Casino Resort.

Las Vegas Sex Assault

Nationally, sex assaults are reported regularly at gaming properties. For instance, last May Frank Anthony Ruggirello, 43, of Clinton, Mich., was charged with sexually assaulting a woman at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

A woman staying at the hotel had told a hotel lifeguard at the pool that she had been sexually assaulted. The woman told Metro police she had traveled to Las Vegas with Ruggirello. They were sharing a room. The two had gone out for dinner and drinks and to see a show.

Back at the room, she awoke to find him assaulting her, she told Metro police, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

It is unclear how the case was resolved in Nevada courts.

Prostitute Beaten, Sexually Assaulted

Last August, an Arizona man allegedly repeatedly punched, strangled and sexually assaulted a sex worker at the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino. The woman, who formerly lived in Nebraska, survived the ordeal but suffered injuries.

Peter Sell, 61, is charged with three counts of sexual assault and a single count of kidnapping and battery with intent to commit sexual assault, the Review-Journal reported.

Early in the morning on Aug. 3, Metro police were notified of a report that a victim was sexually assaulted and covered in blood. Sell had just met the woman and the two went for drinks at a bar inside the Aria Resort & Casino. He then asked her to go to his hotel room at the Paris hotel, according to a police report.

But after they got there, the duo got into a dispute about prices for sex. The confrontation soon turned violent, police said. Sell strangled her, assaulted her in the face, and sexually assaulted the woman, police said, based on the victim’s statements.

“Sell punched her in the face approximately 30 times,” the police report revealed.

It is unclear how the case was resolved in Nevada court.