Las Vegas tattoo artist enters plea agreement in teen sex assault case

A Las Vegas Valley tattoo artist accused of sexually assaulting two teen girls he gave tattoos to has entered into a plea agreement, according to court records.

Souriyadeth Markthepharack, 55, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted sexual assault by way of an Alford agreement, which is not a formal admission of guilt, but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to secure a conviction.

The plea was entered before District Court Judge Bita Yeager on Tuesday morning.

The Metropolitan Police Department said in an arrest report for Markthepharack that detectives first started investigating him after a woman told police in June she wanted to report a sex assault of two teen girls.

The girls told police they went to a residence in the Las Vegas Valley to get tattoos from a man a few weeks earlier. The girls said 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, police said.

Interviews with witnesses subsequently led them to identify Markthepharack as a suspect.

Martkthepharack, police said, 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.

Marthepharack is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 22.

Contact Glenn Puit at [email protected].