Marine charged with sexual assault on 1-year-old Las Vegas girl
A Marine has been accused of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s 1-year-old daughter and physically abusing her 4-year-old son.
Alex Plunket, 22, appeared in Las Vegas Justice Court Thursday and was charged with one count of sexual assault against a child, one count of lewdness with a child and two counts of child abuse, according to a Las Vegas police arrest report.
Plunket, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in San Diego, was visiting his girlfriend of four months in Las Vegas from March 3 through March 6. He had been staying at The Linq Hotel while in town. Plunket’s girlfriend and her children stayed the night with him at the hotel, and Plunket was watching the children when his girlfriend went to work on March 4.
While under Plunket’s supervision, both children received cuts and bruises on their faces, according to the report.
Plunket told their mother that he left the baby on the bed unattended while he was using the bathroom. When he came back, he said she had fallen off of the bed, causing bruising and cuts on her face and mouth, according to the report.
Plunket also said the 4-year-old son threw a toy, which bounced back and hit the boy in the face.
The girlfriend later told police she believed both accounts when Plunket explained this to her and had “no reason to question him.”
Plunket picked up the girlfriend at work, then dropped off the children at their biological father’s house.
The father noticed injuries on both children that were not there when he left them with their mother the day before, according to the report.
The father and grandmother then called the police.
Police sent the children to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center for evaluation. The 4-year-old told a paramedic that “Alex” hurt him, according to the report.
A medical examination showed that the baby had been sexually assaulted and both children had been physically abused.
The examiner had explained that “this is not someting that could accidentally happen to a 1-year-old” and that the injuries indicated “definitive sexual abuse,” according to the report.
Contact Jessica Terrones at jterrones@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find @JessATerrones on Twitter.