Man arrested in undercover child prostitution sting

A Las Vegas man was arrested Wednesday in an undercover operation where a police detective posed as a 15-year-old child on a prostitution website.

Benito Garcia-Morales, 42, was placed into custody at about 2:50 a.m. following a traffic stop near where he allegedly agreed to meet who he thought was a juvenile for sex, according to an arrest report by the Metropolitan Police Department.

Earlier that morning, the detective acting as a decoy allegedly received a text message from Garcia-Morales after a conversation in which it was disclosed that the decoy was 15 years old, police said in the report.

The “sex buyer” agreed to sexual intercourse for a fee of $120, but later stated he would pay only $100, police said.

Garcia-Morales then requested a phone call from the decoy, asked where the person lived and agreed to meet in about 20 minutes while driving a white Chevy Tahoe pickup truck, according to police.

Detectives in the area of the arranged meeting spotted a white Ford transit van, which they knew was one of the vehicles registered to Garcia-Morales. Detectives stopped the van and asked Garcia-Morales to exit the vehicle but he refused, police said.

After a brief struggle, detectives arrested Garcia-Morales on suspicion of being a customer engaged in soliciting a child for prostitution and luring a child with a computer for a sex act, both felonies, and resisting a public officer, which is a misdemeanor, according to the report.

Garcia-Morales is scheduled for a status report hearing in his case in Justice Court on Dec. 20, court records show.

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