Couple pleads guilty

Kim Smith

Friday, July 28, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

A Las Vegas couple accused of selling their children into sexual servitude over a six-year period entered a deal with prosecutors this morning.

The couple told District Judge Sally Loehrer they are innocent but admitted the state has enough evidence to convict them.

The man pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a minor under 16 and one count of child abuse or neglect causing substantial mental injury. He originally faced 37 criminal counts.

The woman pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse or neglect causing substantial mental injury. She was originally charged with six criminal counts.

The man and woman are being held at the Clark County Detention Center. The man's bail is $740,000 and the woman's bail was lowered to $50,000 from $120,000.

The pair could get up to 20 years in prison when the judge sentences them Sept. 7, but the woman is eligible for probation. The Sun is not naming them in order to protect the identity of the children.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Teresa Lowry told the judge that a family friend gave the couple $1,500 a month for six years so he could sexually abuse three of their daughters and take pornographic pictures and videos of them.

The girls include the biological daughter of the woman, the biological daughter of both of them and an adopted niece, Lowry said. They are now 18, 15 and 15.

While investigating the allegations about the family friend, Donald Dustman, police also learned that the father had been sexually abusing his stepdaughter for four years as well, Lowry said.

When they learned that someone may have tipped off authorities about the abuse by the father, Lowry said the couple convinced the girl to sign a false affidavit denying the abuse, telling her the family couldn't afford to lose his income.

Lowry said all three of the girls have attempted suicide and one has been hospitalized for months she has been so traumatized.

After the judge accepted the couple's pleas, the woman's attorney, Barry Levinson asked that she be released on her own recognizance so she could more easily deal with Family Court matters.

Lowry objected, saying the woman is still perpetrating crimes on her children and is a flight risk.