Source: United States Department of Justice (Human Trafficking)
David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal jury in Hartford has found DAVID MARSHALL, also known as “Saint,” 40, of Bristol, with sex trafficking, obstruction of justice, and violation of a protective order offenses.
According to the evidence presented during the trial, between January and April 2022, Marshall compelled a victim into performing commercial sex for his financial benefit and repeatedly raped and beat her if she did not follow his orders. He also controlled the victim by other means, including getting her addicted to fentanyl and threatening to harm her family. In March 2022, the victim attempted to escape from Marshall and obtained an order of protection against him after he was arrested by Cromwell Police for threatening to kill her.
On April 27, 2022, Marshall was arrested by police in Freeport, Maine, after he severely beat the victim. While in jail, Marshall contacted the victim in violation of the protection order, and attempted to convince her not to cooperate with the police and to continue to prostitute herself to earn money to bail him out of jail. Marshall also contacted another person from jail in an attempt to remotely erase the evidence on his cell phone, but he was unable to do so because the FBI had already secured the phone.
On May 10, 2023, while he was detained in federal custody, Marshall again attempted to obstruct the investigation and prosecution of this matter by writing a letter to a family member with instructions to “harass” the victim to keep her from testifying.
Marshall forcibly sex trafficked at least one other woman between 2017 and 2022. With his second victim, Marshall similarly used beatings, rapes, and other means to coerce her into engaging in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit for almost two years.
The trial began on April 30, 2025. Yesterday, Marshall was convicted of two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion; two counts of attempted obstruction of sex trafficking enforcement; and one count of interstate violation of a protection order, causing serious bodily injury to the victim. The jury found Marshall not guilty of one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion.
At sentencing, which is not scheduled, Marshall faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life.
Marshall has been detained since April 27, 2022.
This matter has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Newington Police Department, Cromwell Police Department, Freeport (Maine) Police Department, and Connecticut Department of Correction. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angel Krull, Shan Patel, and Alexis Beyerlein.
U.S. Attorney Sullivan thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine for its assistance in this case.