Man arrested after sacrificing animals at brothel, report says

A Las Vegas man was arrested after he admitted to police that he performed animal sacrifices at a brothel in the northeast valley, documents show.

Said Rodriguez-Rodriguez was arrested Oct. 11 on a warrant and charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking of an adult, according to court documents.

Officers were investigating a possible brothel near North Nellis and East Charleston boulevards for nearly six months after seeing ads in local Latin newspapers for what was suspected to be prostitution, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report released Thursday.

Detectives spoke to women suspected of working in the house and men suspected of paying the women for sex to confirm the home was being used as a brothel where five women worked, police said in the report.

One woman told police that when she lost her job in March she started working at the house because she thought they offered massages.

“(The woman) said she was under the impression she would only do massages but was later told by another female she would have to have sex with the males,” according to the police report. “(She) said she felt uncomfortable but stayed because she needed the money.”

Police observed Rodriguez-Rodriguez sitting outside in his car during the day while men went into the house. The woman told police he performs the “brujeria,” or witchcraft and the women called him “El Padrino.”

A woman who police said runs the house, later identified as Jazmin Russo-Martinez, told the girls she spoke to dead people and if they stopped working for her they would die.

“(Russo-Martinez) would scare girls to work by telling them they would be cursed if they left and that on other occasions girls have disappeared and it’s what happens when they leave the house,” the woman working as a prostitute told police. “(She) further stated, (Russo-Martinez) once told the girls that other girls who left was stabbed and died and it all happens because she left.”

A warrant for Russo-Martinez was issued Sept. 3 but she had not been arrested as of Friday, according to court records.

The women working inside said Rodriguez-Rodriguez sacrifices chickens and doves before “smearing” their blood on the walls. Officers conducted a search warrant and confirmed the women’s statements about blood on multiple walls and floors in the home.

“Detective also observed a shrine at the entrance of the residence and the figures were covered with appeared to be blood,” police said. “Walls to the rooms also appeared to have blood on them … All four wall corners of the garage also had what appeared to be blood smeared on them.”

Rodriguez-Rodriguez admitted to performing animal sacrifices, but said he didn’t scare the girls into working and they asked him to be there.

“Rodriguez continued to claim that he never threatened the girls at any time, and he does not know why the girls would say he threatened them to put a curse if they left,” he told police.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez is being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on March 2.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.