Calif. cop charged with soliciting undercover Las Vegas officer

A Los Angeles-area police sergeant was charged with soliciting an undercover Las Vegas officer for sex earlier this month.

Vahak Mardikian, a sergeant at the Glendale police department, was booked at the Clark County jail on Aug. 8.

Metro police said Mardikian approached an undercover officer at a bar at the Flamingo casino about 2 a.m. and asked whether she was a prostitute.

The officers then spent nearly an hour talking about her invented identity as a prostitute, according to a police report, with Mardikian inquiring about her sexual preferences and personal life. Mardikian was on vacation with a few male friends, he said.

Mardikian noticed two men sitting at the bar, which he correctly identified as the officer’s undercover detective partners. He asked whether she was a cop, and she said no. Mardikian said he wasn’t an officer, either.

After initially agreeing for a “quickie” in either a hotel stairwell or the parking garage, Mardikian asked her where she lived, the report said. He couldn’t use his hotel room because his friend was “with a girl,” the report said.

The officers then agreed Mardikian would pay $250 for anal sex at her apartment. He was immediately arrested by the undercover detectives at the bar, the report said.

Mardikian has had a troubled career as an officer in Glendale. He was demoted in 2012 after he harassed and pressured other officers, according to the Glendale News-Press, but was reinstated last year.

After his reinstatement Mardikian became “emotional,” the newspaper said, hugging his wife.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com. Follow @blasky on Twitter.