4 Puget Sound-area men arrested in human trafficking sting operation, State Patrol says
Detectives recovered a juvenile sex trafficking victim and arrested four men who intended to have sex with minors during a regional operation Thursday, the Washington State Patrol said in a press release.
“Suspects came from as far away as Tumwater to meet with who they thought were juveniles with the intent to commit sex acts,” the statement said. “Detectives posed as the juveniles; no juveniles were used or at risk during the operation.”
Detectives arrested a 63-year-old from Lacey, a 34-year-old from Tumwater, a 26-year-old from Olympia and a 32-year-old from Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
The State Patrol Missing and Exploited Children Task Force, DuPont Police, Lakewood Police, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Nisqually Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigations were part of the operation.
“While DuPont is a safe community, we are not naive to the fact that being situated along the I-5 corridor brings with it transient crime, to include human trafficking and child predators,” DuPont Police Chief Douglas Newman said in the press release. “The safety of our children and citizens is our number one priority, and we want to send a message to anyone who is thinking of victimizing the innocent: Don’t come to DuPont to hurt our kids or our community.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 10:17 AM.
