Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Charges added in Metro Police officer robbery, assault case

Updated Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 | 11:09 a.m.

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Michael Kitchen

A veteran Las Vegas police detective stood shackled before a judge while prosecutors lodged more charges alleging that he injured a prostitute he attacked to get his money back after paying her last week.

Michael John Kitchen said nothing during his initial court appearance Tuesday in a criminal case that could get him dismissed from the police force and imprisoned for life.

Kitchen, 35, was arrested Friday on felony battery, robbery and attempted sexual assault charges.

The allegations added Tuesday were that he caused substantial bodily harm while pushing the woman to the floor, unzipping her pants and removing $100 from her bra.

The woman told police Kitchen initially gave her the money for a 30-minute visit, but became enraged when she told him sex would cost another $150, according to an arrest report.

It said the woman was treated Thursday at a Las Vegas hospital for injuries including a broken wrist, a bruise on her head and a minor concussion, and was released.

She told police she is a prostitute who works for an escort service that set up the meeting Thursday with Kitchen at her apartment. The name of the service wasn't made public.

Police said Kitchen told investigators he set up the meeting with the woman through an Internet site to get a massage.

Police said a man resembling Kitchen was seen leaving the woman's apartment and driving away in a Chevrolet pickup with police-issued license plates, and a phone number used to set up the meeting with the woman was traced to Kitchen.

The five-year police officer is on unpaid leave from his assignment as an undercover gangs and narcotics detective, and is being held without bail at the Clark County jail.

He wasn't asked Tuesday to enter a plea.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento set a Feb. 10 preliminary hearing, and defense attorneys Joshua Tomsheck and Roy Nelson said they'll file a written request for bail.

Tomsheck and prosecutors Amy Ferreira and James Sweetin declined to comment outside court.

Read the arrest report below.

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