Sex-trafficking charge added against North Las Vegas bailiff
A North Las Vegas Justice Court bailiff accused of paying a teen boy for sex is now facing an additional sex trafficking charge.
Jered Pace, 50, briefly appeared in Henderson court Monday when the state filed the new charge. Pace faces five additional counts of soliciting or engaging in child prostitution.
According to Pace’s arrest report, a child told Las Vegas police that he met Pace on Grindr, a gay dating and hookup app, and met with Pace 25-30 times to perform sex acts for money. The boy said he listed his age as 2o on the app.
The report states that both Pace and the child told police they met at the Henderson Police Range several times to have sex. Pace told police he did have sex with the boy, but believed he was 22 years old.
He was arrested in October on two counts of soliciting a minor, with the other charges added since then.
Pace’s attorney, Todd Leventhal, argued against the extra count on Monday, stating that the victim explicitly told police in an interview that he had not been involved in sex trafficking.
He said the Clark County district attorney’s office was trying to stack unnecessary charges against Pace to make the case more difficult to defend.
Leventhal also argued that Grindr’s terms of service forbids minors from using the app, and said the alleged victim told Pace stories about attending UNLV, fathering three children and working as a private investigator for a local attorney. He said the victim told Pace he was in his 20s several times over the year they were involved.
“To include trafficking takes away many defenses, and I don’t believe there’s a good faith basis to do so,” Leventhal said.
The district attorney’s office also asked Henderson Judge David Gibson to increase Pace’s bail, but Gibson refused.
Pace’s next court appearance is scheduled in February.
Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0365. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.