LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas man has been charged with multiple crimes after he allegedly lured two young females into prostitution and an additional girl into committing a sex act.
According to the arrest report for 20-year-old Richard Babb, he met his victims via a popular social media platform.
The first girl that police spoke to told police that her friend introduced her to Babb after she began communicating with him on Snapchat in February. The girl told police that her friend and another girl met up with Babb and performed oral sex on him in exchange for marijuana.
About a month later, Babb contacted one of the girls again and asked if she was still interested in performing oral sex in exchange for marijuana. She said no but told Babb that the first girl might be.
Babb contacted the first girl and asked her if she would be interested in “walking the blade,” which is the term used to refer to an area where there is a lot of prostitution. She agreed to do so if her friend would also do it.
Babb made arrangements to pick both of the girls up later that day. Babb told the first girl that she would need to dress “slutty and sexy” in order to make money, which she would then give to him in exchange for marijuana.
After Babb picked the first girl up, she found out the other girl would not be joining them. She told Babb that she didn’t want to do it anymore, but he would not let her out of the car and told her to “just be confident."
Babb took the girl to Budget Suites on Tropicana Avenue near the Las Vegas Strip on March 23 and gave her instructions on what to charge for various sexual acts. The girl then walked to the nearby Raising Cane’s.
The girl was approached multiple times by men asking for sex before she finally agreed to get into a car with two men shortly after 3 a.m.
During a traffic stop near Baltimore and Fairfield avenues, a police officer observed a young girl in the back seat with an adult male.
The police officer ordered the occupants out of the vehicle and observed that the girl was dressed provocatively and the man did not have on shoes and his pants were unzipped.
Detectives who spoke to the girl learned that she had been lured into working as a prostitute by a previously unknown male.
The girl was able to provide police with the man’s Snapchat account and they were able to identify Babb. Police also spoke to the other 2 girls who were also able to identify Babb and corroborated the first girl’s story.
On April 25, Babb was taken into custody at his apartment complex by the Major Violator Section.
Babb is facing the following charges: two counts of sex trafficking of a child, one count of sexual assault, two counts of engaging in child prostitution, one count of kidnapping, two counts of luring a child to engage in a sex act, one count of child abuse/neglect, and one count of statutory sexual seduction.
