Sex Trafficking Sting Frees 72 Sex Slaves, Including 5 Children Across Washington State

Chris Enloe

    Getty Images/Mandel Ngan/AFP

Federal agents, with the assistance of local law enforcement, freed 72 sex slaves who were being forced to work as prostitutes in Washington State late last week.

According to the Spokesman-Review, the operation included stings in more than a dozen cities across the state. Those rescued included at least five minors.

The police apprehended 14 people during the operation, which was dubbed “Operation Cross Country X.”

“Victims and the pimps travel throughout eastern and western Washington to work and do not necessarily reside in the area where they were located this week,” the FBI said about the sting, according to the Spokesman-Review.

Authorities said they used undercover agents to make contact with the sex slaves while they canvassed the areas frequented by the women and their pimps. Some of the freed women, according to KREM-TV, had been forced into slavery when they were just children.

It was the 10th sting of “Operation Cross Country” since 2008, KREM reports. Other operations occurred around the United States and in other countries, such as Canada, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. 

A total of 239 traffickers were arrested.

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Marshall Arts Instructor Arrested and Man Sentenced to 218 Years for CSA

Alabama man gets 218 years for child sex abuse

By William Thornton

William Reynolds Jr. 

Calhoun County authorities said the testimony of a child was crucial in the trial of a Jacksonville man who was sentenced this month to 218 years in prison for child sexual abuse.

Assistant District Attorney Jayme Amberson said William Randolph Reynolds, 57, was sentenced to two 99-year sentences for two counts of sodomy and 20 years for sexual abuse, all to run consecutively.

Reynolds was convicted in July. Prosecutors said he performed and received oral sex from a 7-year-old victim between August 2012 and May 2014.

"It's extremely difficult to try cases like this when you have victims this young," Amberson said in a phone interview. "There are a lot of obstacles, because generally the child is the only witness to the crime. And this victim was extremely courageous."

Owner of Washington state martial arts studio accused of child sex abuse

by KOMO Staff

Renton PD serves warrants in connection with the child rape case, including this martial arts business in Renton. KOMO Photo

RENTON, Wash. -- Police have arrested the operator of a martial arts studio for having sexual conduct with underage girls.

Police arrested a 42-year-old Bellevue man who owns Lee's Martial Arts, located at 405 S. Third St. in Renton.

The man waved his right to appear in court Thursday. He is being held without bail, and has not been charged.

Police say a complaint to Child Protective Services began the investigation. Police say a martial arts student told investigators that she was 15 years old when the man began developing a sexual relationship with her. 

Court documents say the man and the girl who was a student at the studio had a sexual relationship that began with an exchange of Snapchat photos. First they were clothed, then naked. The two had sex at the man's home and at his studios in Renton and Maple Valley, court documents say.

Two other students have come forward, saying that the man sent them inappropriate pictures on Snapchat. Investigators are checking to see if there are additional victims.

Renton detectives have served search warrants on his Bellevue home and his Renton martial arts studio.

In an affidavit used to obtain a search warrant for Snapchat records, a King County Sheriff's Office detective writes that in June, deputies went to Dimmitt Middle School in the Renton School District. At the school, two sisters said their older sisters, ages 15 and 17, had been sent inappropriate photos by the man.

Deputies talked to the older sisters at Renton High School. They said they were martial arts students of the man, had visited his home and were friends of his daughters.

They got Snapchat photos from the man. They showed him naked. In one case, his genitals were blacked out. In another, the caption "Did you remember to brush your teeth" was over his genitals.

The older sister quit going to the martial arts studio. She told deputies that she had gone to dinner with the man and he had tried to hold her hand.

She also said in December 2014 she had been at a Christmas party at the man's house. She was downstairs in the house by herself. She was lying on a couch and using her phone when he climbed on top of her, the affidavit says. She pushed him off and he stopped his behavior. In April 2016, he took her to dinner. They went to her home, where he took a shower and emerged wearing only a towel.

He laid next to the girl and said they could cuddle with their clothes on or naked, according to the affidavit. She told him that she was uncomfortable, so he left and got dressed.

40 Washingtonians, 13 from Spokane Arrested in Child Sex Sting

More perverts than police can process

Lindsay Nadrich , KREM

SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Police Detectives have arrested 13 people in connection to a child sex sting operation.

Nine people are due in court Monday facing charges related to child rape. Four people appeared in court the week before on similar charges.

After detectives posted an ad on Craigslist, they said they were inundated with responses.

Detective Sergeant Carlos Rodriguez texted Robert Dahms. 

Dahms texted "I love young and I don't care how young!!! I'd love to do anything!!!"

Throughout the text conversation, Detective Sgt. Carlos Rodriguez replied with statements like, "Not sure if this is for you. Unless you like young." I like young boys." Those response are PG compared to the rest, so just imagine what these undercover detectives go through every day to catch predators.

“It's physically and mentally, it's hard, and often times I have people say, you know, I don't know how you could do this job, but, and I said that myself,” Rodriguez said.

I don't know how you do it, but thank God you do.

Court documents said they were arrested as part of a five day sting called “Operation Net Nanny” that involved several state and federal law enforcement agencies. As part of the operation, an undercover officer posed as a mother offering her three children, ages 6, 11 and 12, to others for sex in a Craigslist ad.

Statewide, that ad lead to 40 arrests and 13 of those were in the Spokane area.

“New to Spokane. Young fam fun.” That was what one of the fake ads said posted on Craiglist by an undercover detective.

“In this case we used a number of different personas in different ways where we went out and we talked to people who wanted to do bad things to children,” Detective Sergeant Rodriguez said.

In just five days, detectives received more than one thousand responses.

“People sometimes say we had 1,000 responses, but we only arrested 13 people, those are 13 people that can no longer hurt children in this community,” Rodriguez said.

In texts exchanged with suspects, detectives said, "My girls are 6 and 11. My son is almost 13."

“We're targeting people who have a sexual interest in being with kids and raping children, there's no other way to put it,” Rodriguez said.

Spokane is a city in eastern Washington with a population of more than 200,000

"Operation Net Nanny" has been going statewide for about 20 days. In that time, detectives have arrested 40 people, so on average that's two arrests per day.

Of those 40 people only two were registered sex offenders. So, the majority of people were not even on their radar.

I had parents that traded their daughter for a trailer

“Sadly we had way too many people wanting to do this type of activity and I don't' know what that says about our society right now,” Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said.

Nothing good, that's for sure.

Thankfully, when these people went to meet up with children, detectives were there instead. But unfortunately, that is not always the case.

“When I was a sex crimes detective, I had cases like this, I had parents that traded their daughter for a trailer,” Knezovich said.

Court records show a married couple were two of the people who responded to the ad. Tim and Sandra McManis were arrested for 1st and 2nd degree Rape of a Child. Court records show Tim responded to the ad saying he and his wife have fantasied about having sex with younger people but had never had the opportunity.

Documents state that Tim was told the ages of the children and still agreed to meet up with the mother and her children. The couple was arrested on July 7 at a meet up location.

Officials also arrested Jason Lee Borseth on charges of Rape of a Child, Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor and Violation of the Uniform Controlled Substance Act. Court documents state Borseth had offered the mother drugs in exchange for sex with one of her children.

He was arrested on July 7 at the 7-Eleven off of Argonne and Bridgeport in Spokane.

Detective Sgt. Carlos Rodriguez said knowing he is protecting real children is what keeps him going.

“I've shown up and I've had to interview and listen to interviews when there is the 6-year-old, and there is the 11-year-old, when you have these children that have been affected and this, I mean I'm happy to meet these people I'm glad it's me. I'm glad it's not that little kid and that's the reward of why you need to keep doing something like this,” Rodriguez said.

This sting operation is still ongoing. Detectives are now working to determine if any of the people arrested came into contact with real children.

Rodriguez said they plan to do more operations like this in the future... but says resources are stretched thin.

“If it was up to me, I would do it every day, but the reality of it is we just can't do that because we do need to make sure that these cases are investigated the right way,” Rodriguez said.

Detectives also arrested Robert Dahms on July 7 at the 7-Eleven at Argonne and Liberty. Court documents said he agreed to meet up with the mom to have sex with the 11-year-old daughter. Officials said Dahms is a convicted felon in Idaho for having sex with a minor under the age of 16 and has a history of drug abuse.

Thomas Bramblee, Mechel Frederick, Glenn Hampton, Steven Hunt, Christopher Luman, Reggie Oliver, Eduardo Populus, Joseph Siria, and Sean Stevenson were also arrested in the sting. They were all scheduled to make court appearances on Monday.  

Birch Bay, Washington Man Heads to Prison Over Child Sex Abuse Claims

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS 

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) - A 21-year-old man charged with sexually assaulting a girl at a neighbor's Birch Bay home has been sentenced to six years in prison.

The Bellingham Herald reports that Ray Anthony Hollis was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to reduced charges of indecent liberties and burglary. He had initially been charged with rape of a child.

Indecent liberties is a heck of a long ways from 2nd degree rape. This plea bargaining is sure good news for pedophiles. Not so good for those whom they will victimize when they get out. Prosecuting attorneys give away far too much.

The victim told authorities Hollis came over to her home uninvited, they watched a movie and then Hollis sexually assaulted her.

Hollis told authorities that he had gone to his neighbor's house to get alcohol and that the girl made up the allegations because she didn't want to get in trouble for drinking with him. He says he only pleaded guilty to avoid a more severe sentence.

Unfortunately, there is no indication of the age of the child. Also, there are no pictures of him. There is a mugshot of a Ray Anthony Hollis, but he is a child sex offender from California. 

Birch Bay is just across the border from me, and I have friends living there.

Birch Bay, Washington

10 Arrested in Washington State Online Child-Sex Sting

The State Patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force held a 2-week operation

Ten people arrested allegedly believed they were going to have sex with underage children

Eight men and one woman have been criminally charged

BY STACIA GLENN
sglenn@thenewstribune.com

Pierce Co., Washington

A two-week operation dubbed Net Nanny ended with 10 arrests of people who allegedly showed up to have sex with children in Pierce County, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The department’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force oversaw the sting, which ended Saturday.

Undercover detectives posed online as underage girls or parents selling their children for sex and arranged meetings with nine men and one woman. When the people showed up, they were taken into custody.

“It’s good to be proactive, and we have to keep changing what we do,” said detective Sgt. Carlos Rodriguez, who heads the task force. “If we hadn’t been there to greet them, it would have been a child or a parent there to pimp out their kid.”

The task force last held a sting in August and netted nine arrests.

Other agencies involved in the recent operation included Tacoma police, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations and the State Attorney’s Office.

The following people have been charged in Pierce County Superior Court:

▪ Anthony Ray Blankenship, 32, of Tacoma. He pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree rape of a child and communication with a minor for immoral purposes and was ordered held on $50,000 bail.

He believed he was chatting with a 13-year-old girl when he made plans to meet at a gas station for sex, according to charging papers.

When detectives arrested him, Blankenship allegedly called himself a “super citizen,” claiming he only met the girl to talk to her.

▪ Charles Andrew Drury, 50, of Puyallup. He pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree rape of a child and attempted commercial sex abuse of a minor and was ordered held on $250,000 bail.

He thought he was talking to the mother of three young girls and asked to have sex with the 8-year-old and 11-year-old, documents show.

▪ Jehran Steven Franklin, 20, of Puyallup. He pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree rape of a child and was ordered held on $200,000 bail.

An undercover detective responded to a personal ad he’d placed on Craigslist and pretended to be a 13-year-old girl, according to charging papers. Franklin allegedly made plans to meet the girl for sex.

▪ Kenneth Paul Zimmerman, 57, of Puyallup. He pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree rape of a child and was ordered held on $200,000 bail.

He allegedly posted an ad online saying that he was “looking for a young little girl” and agreed to meet an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old girl for sex.

▪ Eric Kermit Jacobsen, 48, of Enumclaw. He pleaded not guilty to attempted commercial sex abuse of a minor and was ordered held on $250,000 bail.

Jacobsen believed he was chatting with the mother of three young girls and made plans to pay for sex with an 11-year-old girl, records show.

He allegedly showed up for the meeting with Skittles, lube and condoms.

▪ Paul Anthony Carson, 59, of Olympia. He pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree child rape and was ordered held on $150,000 bail.

An undercover detective posing as a mother of three young girls agreed to let him have sex with her 11-year-old daughter. Carson said during their chat that he enjoyed the “father/daughter dynamic,” according to charging papers.

▪ Manuel Antonio Figueroa, 37, of Federal Way. He pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree child rape and attempted commercial abuse of a minor and was ordered held on $250,000 bail.

Figueroa thought he was agreeing to sex with a 13-year-old he met online, but it was actually an undercover detective, documents show.

▪ Robert John Quintero, 49, and Shelley Dianne Harper, 51, of Vancouver, Washington. They were charged with attempted first-degree child rape and attempted commercial sex abuse of a minor and held on $250,000 bail each.

The couple made plans to have sex with a 13-year-old boy, 11-year-old girl and 8-year-old girl and agreed to bring a gift certificate for the children, documents show.

The 10th person arrested has not yet been charged.