Las Vegas man, ‘self-described pimp’ of children, sentenced to prison
A Las Vegas man will serve more than 13 years in prison after he solicited multiple children to engage in prostitution.
Denzel Loyd, 39, also will have 15 years of supervised release, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release. Chief U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon handed down the sentence Thursday.
Prosecutors said Loyd used Facebook to contact minors and solicit them to engage in sexual acts, send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves, and prostitute themselves on his behalf.
Loyd was arrested in May 2020 after police said he trafficked or tried to traffic five teenage girls and a teenage boy — ages 13 to 17 — for sex. He also is accused of attempting to persuade three of the minors under the age of 16 to perform sex acts with him.
“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the offense,” Interim U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah said in the release. “Over the span of a few months, the defendant, a self-described pimp, solicited numerous minors to send him sexually explicit photographs and videos of themselves, induced them to engage in various sex acts – at least one victim complied to his sex demands in exchange for food, and attempted to convince the victims to engage in prostitution.”
Loyd “deserves each and every day of his 13-year prison term,” Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge for the FBI’s Las Vegas division, said in the news release. “This sentence delivers a message to anyone intent on harming children.”
In addition to imprisonment, Loyd must register as a sex offender.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307. Follow @TonyGLVNews on X.