PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A collaborative and multi-jurisdictional investigation in Pierce County led to the arrest of two men for alleged crimes against children and promoting prostitution.
The first arrest came when the man arrived at a location where he arranged to meet and allegedly attempted to have sex with two underage children, ages 10 and 12.
The Tukwila man had been arrested in January for a similar crime when an operation captured him after he arrived at a location to allegedly have sex with a 13-year-old.
The man had no criminal record before his first arrest in January.
The second arrest came when a man brought an 18-year-old woman to a location to allegedly pay her for sexual favors.
He was arrested and charged with promoting prostitution.
The woman, who was in a similar situation when she was 16, was not arrested and released.
Washington State Patrol Chief John R. Batiste said, “Sexual crimes against children are often committed by people with no previous criminal record. 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. The WSP’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force (MECTF) is one way we can help protect children that are at risk of being victimized.”
The agencies part of the investigations include the Seattle police, Tacoma police, Washington State Patrol, FBI and Homeland Security.
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