David Marshall, Sex Trafficking, Connecticut 2022

Bristol Man Convicted of Sex Trafficking and Related Offenses

David Marshall, a 40-year-old man from Bristol, Connecticut, has been found guilty of sex trafficking, obstruction of justice, and other offenses by a federal jury in Hartford, Connecticut.

According to 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.

Marshall was also found to have forcibly sex trafficked at least one other woman between 2017 and 2022, using similar methods to coerce her into engaging in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit.

The trial began on April 30, 2025, and 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. He faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life at sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

Marshall has been detained since April 27, 2022. The case was 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.

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