Hawkeye Reporter

Des Moines Police Sgt. Brady Carney’s investigation and testimony helped put an Iowa man who had abused sex trafficking victims for a decade behind bars for life.

Marlin Santana Thomas, 46, received a life sentence for the sex trafficking of six adult victims using fraud, force and coercion, according to a release from the U. S. Justice Department. Thomas was also sentenced for the trafficking of a 14-year-old.

Thomas confessed to trafficking his victims beginning in 2009 and continuing until 2018, when he was arrested in a drug-related federal investigation, KCRG reported.

Des Moines Police Sgt. Brady Carney.

As part of his plea agreement, Thomas confessed to using violence against his six adult victims to force them to engage in commercial sex acts. He punched one victim in the face, physically assaulted another inside their home and used a final victim’s heroin addiction to coerce them into commercial sex.

Carney testified in court that he talked to another 11 women that Thomas “raped, physically assaulted and/or attempted to sex traffic,” according to KCRG.

Carney cross-checked all of these accounts with secondary evidence. He also noted that Thomas “assaulted, raped and stalked victims who did not comply.”

Carney told Hawkeye Reporter he was working as an investigator in the Vice/Narcotics Unit, which investigates a wide variety of crimes, primarily drug-related, but also several common overlapping crimes including prostitution and sex trafficking.

“Marlin Thomas was identified as a suspect in two rapes, one in 2013, and one in 2015,” Carney said. “Marlin was then identified as a suspect in trafficking a 14-year-old victim in 2017. Marlin Thomas was also a part of a drug investigation in 2018, and he was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“While Marlin was serving his federal prison sentence related to drug distribution, I began to look at all his prior involvements and built the federal sex trafficking case against him while he was in federal prison. Prior to being released from prison, Marlin was federally indicted on a host of sex trafficking charges.”

The sergeant’s trial testimony against Thomas helped ensure he was given the ultimate prison term.

“Although Marlin plead guilty, alleviating the need for a trial, I provided extensive testimony at his contentious sentencing hearing,” Carney said. “As the lead investigator into Marlin’s prolific trafficking enterprise, I was able to interview dozens of his victims, some of his associates and a few of the customers who solicited sex from the women Marlin trafficked.

“I also was able to corroborate nearly a decade of assaults, rapes, criminal involvements, arrests, travel and associations of Marlin based on my ongoing interviews with victims and witnesses," he added. "Additionally, a couple of Marlin’s cell phones were seized over time. Reviewing and analyzing the contents of those additional investigative took a lot of time and was discussed in-depth at his sentencing. For nearly four hours, I was the only witness to testify at his sentencing.”

Chief Judge John Jarvey said Thomas was depraved and had treated humans like currency. Thomas had engaged in serial rape and was a highly dangerous person who had not expressed any remorse for his crimes or the victims, the chief judge noted.

Citizens can help police departments in their fight against human trafficking, Carney said.

“It can be difficult to uncover as traffickers attempt to insulate themselves while keeping their victims in precarious and vulnerable positions,” he said. “Additionally, traffickers oftentimes exploit a victim’s vulnerabilities [age, childhood trauma, lack of financial resources, drug addiction, other criminal involvements/court supervision, fear and mental health to name a few] in order to keep their victims from reporting to police. 

"Citizens who see irregular/unexplained travel, a perceived relationship without reciprocity, unusually long or odd hours of work, high volume/short term traffic to and from residences and or hotel rooms, someone exhibiting fear and anxiety towards an individual but continued interactions exist are all signs that trafficking may be present,” he added.

Anyone who suspects human trafficking is occurring, be it a minor engaging in paid sex acts, or anyone being coerced into prostitution or labor, is urged to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

“The National Human Trafficking Hotline received 218 calls from Iowa alone in 2017 and 74 Iowa-based human trafficking cases. Of the cases reported to the Human Trafficking Hotline for Iowa, half are reports from minors,” according to the trafficking prevention site Chains Interrupted. One study found that “1,350 unique individuals advertised for sale for sex online every month in Iowa.”

Carney, 37, joined the police department in July 2007. After five years on uniform patrol, he transferred to vice/narcotics as an investigator in July 2012, where he assisted patrol officers and detectives with drug-related cases, utilized confidential informants, performed undercover operations, prepared and executed search warrants, provide expert testimony in federal court regarding gangs, drugs, drugs and guns and sex trafficking.

He was promoted to sergeant in March 2021 and assigned to uniform patrol. In 2019, the Des Moines Rotary Club named him Police Officer of the Year. Police Chief Dana Wingert congratulated the senior police officer for his honor.

“SPO Carney is arguably the best narcotics investigator in the state of Iowa, and he’s achieved this status through hard work, experience and a relentless drive to keep this community safe,” Wingert said. 

The U.S. federal government awarded $101 million last year to combatting human trafficking, according to the Justice Department website.

The administration of President Joe Biden on Dec. 3 announced an updated National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking.

“The plan draws on survivor voices and recommendations over the years on how to prevent human trafficking and provide the appropriate resources to protect and respond to the needs of individuals who have experienced human trafficking,” according to a release from the White House.