3 arrested in Las Vegas prostitution online sting

Three men were arrested in a matter of hours Monday during a law enforcement sting aimed at combating the sexual exploitation of children in the Las Vegas Valley, police said.

Raymond Castro, 38, of North Las Vegas, was arrested at 10:50 a.m. David Arroyo, 29, of North Las Vegas, was arrested at 1:39 p.m. Xerxes Sangco, 33, of Las Vegas, was arrested at 2:44 p.m.

Each was apprehended on suspicion of attempting to solicit a 15-year-old girl for the purpose of prostitution, according to law enforcement records. The arrests unfolded during a sting carried out by an FBI Child Exploitation task force.

A Las Vegas officer working on the task force said in arrest reports for the men that he posed as a prostitute online, on known prostitution websites. The officer said that on the day of the arrests the officer received messages from three men, each seeking sex for money. The officer said he informed the potential customers in each case that the person they were soliciting was 15, then the customers each agreed to meet in a church parking lot in the central Las Vegas Valley.

Arroyo was arrested in a Camaro at the scene of the scheduled meeting, police said.

“In the center console of the vehicle was an iPhone,” police wrote in an arrest report. “Your declarant called the number that was communicating with the decoy and this phone rang.”

Arroyo acknowledged participating in the setup of the meeting and that he agreed to pay for sex but that he wasn’t actually going to follow through, police said in the arrest report.

“Arroyo stated he was not going to have sex with her and that he was going to try and help her,” police wrote.

The almost exact same scenario unfolded during the arrest of Castro, police said. When police apprehended Castro, they called the number used to communicate with the law enforcement decoy and Castro’s phone rang, police said in an arrest report. He acknowledged setting up the meeting under the premise of paying for sex, police said in Castro’s arrest report.

“Castro stated he was not going to actually have sex with the juvenile and that he was just going to take her back to his house and try to get her to stop doing this,” police said in the report.

Sangco was arrested after a prolonged back-and-forth via text messages about a meeting. At first, Sangco said he was concerned that the decoy was underage, but he eventually showed up to meet with the person he thought was a prostitute, according to his arrest report.

Each man was arrested on suspicion of soliciting a child for the purposes of prostitution and luring a child to engage in a sex act. A criminal complaint has not been filed in any of the cases. Status checks on each case are scheduled for September in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.