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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Police say two young children under the age of seven were sexually abused by a stranger, and finding the accused predator proved to be a challenge for detectives.

Investigators had to work closely with the young children, and had very little other witness testimony to work with. But in the end, they were able to get the man they were looking for behind bars.

Police say Diondre Phifer sexually abused two littler girls, one of them three years old and the other six.

"He lured them with a promise of money and ice cream," Metro Detective Michael Fortunato said.

According to Phifer's arrest report, the 27-year-old met the children at an apartment complex near Maryland Parkway and Tropicana. That's where the alleged abuse happened.

"He wasn't a staple of the area," Fortunato said. "It appears he had just arrived, and had only been there a few days." 

Detective Fortunato led the investigation, and says Phifer was hard to trace. All investigators had to go on was his first name and a sketch.

Metro reached out to the media for help. 

"Nothing was really coming from anybody, and it really started to become a problem," Phifer said.

Finally, a break came in the case when investigators got a tip about a Diondre Phifer who graduated from Compton High School in L.A.

The school provided Diondre's records, which led police to some of his acquaintances. 

"Some people that new him intimately were able to come forward and give us information that even solidified who he was," Fortunato said.

Metro then tracked him down in Las Vegas, turning a sketch into a mug shot and getting an accused sexual predator off the streets.

Phifer now faces several charges including lewdness and sexual assault with a minor.