Bristol Man Charged with Additional Sex Trafficking and Obstruction of Justice Offenses

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that a federal grand jury in New Haven has returned a superseding indictment charging DAVID MARSHALL, also known as “Saint,” 38, of Bristol, with additional sex trafficking and obstruction of justice offenses.

On November 15, 2022, the grand jury returned an indictment charging Marshall with the forceful sex trafficking of one adult female and offenses related to his alleged actions following his arrest.  As alleged in court documents, between January and April 2022, Marshall sold the victim for commercial sex and repeatedly raped and beat the victim if she did not follow his orders.  He also controlled the victim by plying her with fentanyl and threatening to harm her family.  In March 2022, the victim attempted to escape from Marshall and obtained an order of protection against him after he was arrested by Cromwell Police for threatening to kill her.

It is further alleged that, on April 27, 2022, Marshall was arrested by police in Freeport, Maine, after he severely beat the victim.  While in jail, Marshall contacted the victim in violation of the protection order, and attempted to convince her not to cooperate with the police and to continue to prostitute herself to earn money to bail him out of jail.  Marshall also contacted another person from jail in an attempt to remotely erase the evidence on his cell phone, but he was unable to do so because the FBI had already secured the phone.

The superseding indictment, which was returned on October 24, 2023, alleges that Marshall forcibly sex trafficked three additional adult females between 2016 and 2022.  In addition, on May 10, 2023, while he was detained in federal custody, Marshall again attempted to obstruct the investigation and prosecution of this matter.

The superseding indictment charges Marshall with four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life on each count; two counts of attempted obstruction of sex trafficking enforcement, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 25 years on each count; and one count of interstate violation of a protection order, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, but the maximum penalty may be increased to 10 years if the conduct resulted in serious bodily injury to the victim, or to life imprisonment if the conduct constituted sexual abuse or aggravated sexual abuse.

Marshall has been detained since April 27, 2022.  He appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Spector in New Haven and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Newington Police Department, Cromwell Police Department, Freeport (Maine) Police Department, and Connecticut Department of Correction.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angel M. Krull and Amanda S. Oakes.

U.S. Attorney Avery thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine for its assistance in this case.