Alleged Las Vegas drug dealer charged with raping homeless woman
Las Vegas security officers watched a rape as it was captured on surveillance video and immediately called police.
Devon Cervin, 25, an alleged drug dealer, had pulled into a parking lot at 241 W. Charleston Blvd., driving a rented white Ferrari, prosecutors said.
He pulled a 56-year-old homeless woman from the vehicle, slammed her to the ground and sexually assaulted her, according to prosecutors Jake Villani and Tyler Smith.
An off-site security team monitoring cameras outside the former Holsum Bakery building were alerted at 1:48 a.m. on Sept. 25 as the sports car rolled up. The cameras zoomed in on Cervin as he attacked the woman, the prosecutors said.
When Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived, they found the woman in the area of the attack.
Cervin was tracked down the next day through the Ferrari’s license plate, which was seen on video, and was arrested.
He was indicted Wednesday on two counts of sexual assault, one count of first-degree kidnapping and one count of battery with intent to commit sexual assault.
Cervin posted $50,000 bail in October but remains in federal custody without bail. Federal agents arrested him in February on unrelated charges of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
The federal charges against Cervin date to allegations from March 2017. Confidential sources told agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration that he sold cocaine and THC oil extracted from marijuana in the form of “wax” and “shatter,” owned several firearms and had about $300,000 in cash at his residence, according to court briefs. Cervin sold the drugs through stories posted on Instagram, the court papers indicate.
An agent reported viewing the Instagram page that showed Cervin “possessing what appears to be pounds of marijuana, glass smoking lamps, and a firearm,” along with a pneumatic press, a large air compressor and “a clear, yellow, honey-like substance spread out on parchment paper.”
In a screenshot posted in July 2018, Cervin showed himself unwrapping a package that contained seven bundles which “appeared to be vacuum sealed and formed and wrapped in a manner which is consistent with bulk marijuana packaging.”
About three months later, Cervin posted pictures of diamond jewelry with an estimated value of $34,000, a watch with white stones labeled “Rolex,” nine bundles of cash affixed with $10,000 bands, a black BMW 328i with the word “SOLD” and THC extract wrapped in parchment paper about the size of a baseball, the court papers indicate.
Agents also reported that Cervin created a shell company under the name A1 LLC to launder drug proceeds and made more than 30 cash transactions between March and October 2017, for several thousand dollars each, all but one of which fell below the $10,000 federal reporting requirement.
When Cervin was arrested on the federal charges, court briefs indicated, agents seized 310 kilograms of THC oil products, 32.9 kilograms of marijuana, 2.6 kilograms of opiates, $28,000 in cash, seven firearms, a 2016 Lamborghini Huracan with an estimated value of $237,250, a 2014 BMW 428i valued at $17,825 and a 2016 Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycle worth $11,905.
Asked about his shell company, Cervin told agents he had started a mobile detailing business “but was not profitable so he then began using the company to buy and sell used vehicles.”
A lawyer for Cervin could not be reached Wednesday. Cervin is due in court Feb. 4 for the sexual assault case.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.