State Patrol And Other Agencies Arrest 2 For Alleged Sex Crimes

TACOMA, WA — The Washington State Patrol (WSP) has announced the arrests of two men - one on child trafficking charges and the other for promoting prostitution-resulting from a collaborative, multi-jurisdictional effort that involved the WSP's Missing and Exploited Children Task Force (MECTF), Seattle Police, Tacoma Police, FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

The first man, from Tukwila, was taken into custody on June 29 at a location in Tacoma, where he had arranged to meet and allegedly have sex with two children, ages 10 and 12. The man also had been arrested this past January in Pierce County, when he arrived at a location to have sex with a 13-year-old.

The suspect had no criminal record before his first arrest, and has been charged with crimes against children and human trafficking-related crimes.

The second suspect also was arrested on June 29, when he transported an 18-year-old female to a location to allegedly pay her for sexual favors. The man was charged with 2nd-degree promoting prostitution.

The female was not charged, but was offered advocacy services before being released. She previously had been contacted in a similar situation as a 16-year-old.

"Sexual crimes against children are often committed by people with no previous criminal record," said Chief John R. Batiste of the WSP. "Sadly, they have been able to offend without detection for too long, so stopping them as soon as we possibly can is important to the safety of all children."

According to a release, the MECTF's primary mission is to proactively target individuals involved in child abuse and child exploitation via the internet.

"The hard work by the dedicated professionals to locate and arrest individuals whose sole purpose was to cause harm to children, is a testament to (the officers') commitment to diligently serving the public in their efforts to protect the children of our state," said Captain Mike Edwards, of the Seattle Police Department and a commander on the Washington State Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.