California man arrested on suspicion of sex trafficking on Strip

A California man has been arrested on suspicion of sex trafficking on the Las Vegas Strip after police say he told an undercover officer that he wanted to be her pimp.

A Las Vegas police arrest report for Clifton Ligons, 25, of Pittsburg, states he was arrested during a vice investigation in the 3500 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South at 3:54 a.m. Sunday.

“This is a known area to the vice section for being high in prostitution-related crimes,” an undercover officer wrote in Ligon’s arrest report. “I was posing as a person who would be believed to be a prostitute wearing tight pants and crop top shirt.”

The officer said Ligons approached her, then engaged her in conversation as she walked on the Strip.

“I explained to him I was just trying to make some money,” the officer said she told Ligons.

The officer said Ligons, in turn, told her he “wanted half of my earnings from acts of prostitution.” He expected her to make $1,000 in 24 hours. She was to give half the money earned to him, the officer said in recounting the conversation.

“Ligons had a firearm and he would use it to protect me,” the officer said, adding “as I engaged in conversation with Ligons, he lunged towards my neck stating, ‘I don’t care I’ll choke you right here.’”

The officer said Ligons later told a detective he is not a pimp “but wanted to get whatever he could out of a female” and that he threatened to choke the officer to “assert dominance.”

Las Vegas Justice Court records indicate Ligons is scheduled to appear in court on June 29 for a status check on the filing of a criminal complaint.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.