Ex-state worker sentenced for seeking sex with 14-year-old girl

A former state Department of Health worker accused of trying to have sex with a minor is headed to prison.

Brandon Prall, 33, pleaded guilty in August to a charge of attempted commercial sex abuse of a minor. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Michael Schwartz sentenced him Thursday to just under a year and four months behind bars.

That’s what prosecutors and Prall’s attorney, Brad Meryhew recommended.

“For him, the greatest loss here is probably his career,” Meryhew told Schwartz.

Prall was arrested after he asked a person who ended up being a police informant on Backpage.com to arrange sex with an underage girl.

Instead of the 14-year-old he was expecting, police showed up at a Lakewood hotel in December and arrested him.

At the time, records showed Prall was a health services consultant for the state who worked with programs that involved children.

“I can’t say how truly sorry I am for the mistake that I made,” he said at sentencing.

He said he’d been in treatment for about four months, and was getting a lot out of it.

This story was originally published October 6, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Ex-state worker sentenced for seeking sex with 14-year-old girl."