Middle school custodian arrested in sex trafficking of missing woman, police say

A middle school custodian has been arrested on suspicion of sex trafficking a Las Vegas woman reported missing last month by her mother, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Rayshod Arberry, 33, a custodian at Von Tobel Middle School, 2436 N. Pecos Road, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on the felony count and released on bail Saturday, based on police and Justice Court records.

Arberry was still employed at Von Tobel as of Tuesday, said Rebecca Garza, the school’s office manager.

The series of events leading to Arberry’s arrest started when the mother of an adult female told police she had last seen her her daughter on July 13 and then a missing persons detective located the woman at a medical facility on Aug. 1, police stated in a report.

In an investigation, police learned that the victim had been cited by an undercover vice detective on July 14 for allegedly engaging in prostitution on East Tropicana Avenue near Valley View Boulevard, police reported.

Police detectives interviewed the woman on Thursday, and she said she was transient until July 14 when she met a man, later identified as Arberry, outside a tea business on East Flamingo Road, and he offered to allow her to stay as his apartment, the report stated.

She said that after she used his shower, Arberry told her “she was going to ‘Walk down the street and get money by sleeping with dudes,’” according to police.

Arberry allegedly assigned her to engage in prostitution in the area of Tropicana and Valley View on July 14, when she was was taken into custody by police, cited and released, police said.

The next day, police said, he directed her Boulder Highway, where she engaged in prostitution, and the customer drove away without paying her, which prompted Arberry to tell her she should have gotten the money up front.

The woman then left Arberry, called for help and was ultimately recovered as a missing person, according to police.

Detectives interviewed the woman who led them to Arberry’s apartment complex where they eventually questioned him and examined his cellphone, which contained several messages “depicting Arberry pandering other women” with a messaging app, police reported.

Police then arrested Arberry and the victim identified him, police said.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.