Woman, accused of trafficking 11-year-old, sentenced in Las Vegas

A woman was sentenced Tuesday to up to six years behind bars after prosecutors accused her of using an 11-year-old girl as a prop while prostituting on the Strip.

Gigi Mitchell, who pleaded guilty in August to one count of child abuse, neglect or endangerment via sexual exploitation, also must register as a sex offender after she completes her prison term. She entered a type of guilty plea that required her to admit only that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Sam Martinez said Mitchell used the girl “to flirt with, get access to tricks, to go back to their rooms, to have sexual contact.”

Mitchell would follow the men to their hotel rooms, the prosecutor said, while leaving the girl inside the casino parking garage alone for hours at a time.

“This behavior is unconscionable,” Martinez said. “And to this day, she has refused to take any sort of responsibility.”

After Mitchell’s arrest in March, the girl told a social worker that she was a “hustler,” admitting that she drank and flirted with men in Strip casinos, smoked cigarettes and entered nightclubs with Mitchell.

Mitchell begged District Judge Mary Kay Holthus for probation, saying she had been “selling flower pens” with the girl, while denying that she did anything to hurt the girl.

“With God as my witness, I would never do such a thing,” Mitchell said.

The judge handed down the maximum sentence.

“I don’t have a program to teach you not to sex traffic a child,” Holthus said.

The girl, who has since been taken in by Child Protective Services, also told authorities she sold “flower pens” to men they encountered in casinos for anywhere from $10 to $1,500, but she denied having sex with them.

Mitchell and the girl would approach men on casino floors at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Bellagio, New York-New York, Paris Las Vegas and the Stratosphere, according to court records.

Metropolitan Police Department officers working at The Cosmopolitan in the early hours of March 2 spotted Mitchell and the girl approaching men in the casino while the girl wore a tight-fitting white floral dress and black high heels, according to an arrest report.

The girl, identified in court documents as “victim 1,” told police that she and Mitchell had driven to Las Vegas from Arizona around the time of the Super Bowl in early February and had stayed at various hotels along the Strip.

On the girl’s cellphone, police found various messages with men that appeared to be prostitution-related. In her purse, they found two condoms and three pens.

Only Mitchell has been charged in the case.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.