Las Vegas tattoo artist accused of sexually assaulting 2 teen girls

A Las Vegas Valley tattoo artist has been charged with sexually assaulting two teen girls he gave tattoos to in Las Vegas, according to police records.

Souriyadeth Markthepharack, 55, is charged with three counts of first-degree kidnapping, five counts of sex assault and one count of lewdness with a child 14 or 15. He was being held without bail Tuesday at the Clark County Detention Center.

The Metropolitan Police Department said in an arrest report for Markthepharack that detectives first started investigating after a patrol officer was flagged down by a woman on June 7 on Maryland Parkway in the eastern Las Vegas Valley. The woman told police she wanted to report a sex assault of two teen girls.

Police then tracked down the girls and learned they went to a residence in the Las Vegas Valley to get tattoos from a man a few weeks earlier. The teens told police the man gave them alcohol and soda. After drinking the beverages, the girls became sick and passed out. Both said they awoke later to a man sexually assaulting them.

Detectives interviewed multiple people, prompting them to identify Markthepharack as a suspect, police said. When they first contacted Markthepharack by phone he declined to be interviewed, saying “Why would I do that? I don’t want to get deported.”

Police later arrested him, and he agreed to an interview in which he said he is a native of Laos, that he is working on his legal status in the United States and that his sister had recently been deported. He then acknowledged having sexual contact with both girls but said he did not know they were underage. He also told police the girls gave him the impression they wanted to have sex and they never said no, police said.

“Souriyadeth wrote a letter of apology to the girls where he stated he did not know they were underage, that he was sorry and asked for forgiveness,” police said in the report.

Markthepharack was arrested on Aug. 27. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court on Sept. 15.

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.