Feds Charge Clark County Fire Captain with Child Sex Offense

LAS VEGAS—A Clark County Fire Department Captain has been charged by the federal grand jury with committing a child sex offense, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Martin Vohwinkel, 55, of Las Vegas, was indicted on Tuesday, March 2, 2010, on charges of coercion and enticement of a minor for sex, a felony offense that carries a penalty of 10 years to life in prison. Vohwinkel surrendered to the United States Marshals Service today pursuant to a federal arrest warrant, and is scheduled for an initial appearance and arraignment tomorrow, March 4, 2010, at 3:00 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leavitt.

According to the indictment, from about February 25 to February 26, 2010, Vohwinkle used a facility of interstate commerce, a computer, to knowingly coerce and entice an individual who has not attained the age of 18 to engage in sexual activity.

The case is being investigated by the Southern Nevada Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and Henderson Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nancy J. Koppe.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.