1 man jailed, 2 more sought in sex trafficking of child

EDMONDS — Three different men are accused of sex trafficking an Edmonds girl this summer, starting when she was 12 years old, police records show.

One of the suspects was booked last week into the King County Jail. Edmonds police have been looking for the other two and recently forwarded their investigation to prosecutors in King County, where the alleged trafficking took place.

Detectives are recommending that all three men be charged with promoting commercial sex abuse of a minor. One of the men also is accused of second-degree child rape.

The girl’s parents contacted Edmonds police in July, not long after her 13th birthday. The mother reported seeing Facebook messages between the girl and a man. In the messages, the man described coordinating customers to have sex with the girl. He was posting ads on Backpage.com, a classifieds website known by police for its use in sex trafficking.

The girl had told her parents the man was a 16-year-old boy named “Blade” who had bought her a phone and lingerie. In reality, he was 25. Expensive presents can be a sign of human trafficking, Edmonds detective Stacie Trykar wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant.

Facebook messages show the man giving the girl instructions on when to collect money from men who paid her for sex, and reminding her to use condoms, police allege.

After talking to the girl’s mother, who showed them some of the messages, Edmonds police obtained a judge’s permission to order Facebook and Backpage to turn over records regarding the girl, the suspects and associated social media accounts. The detectives also obtained her cellphone records under a court order. Police continued to collect the social media documentation into late September and were looking for the suspects through October and November.

The 25-year-old man reportedly tried to get the girl to persuade her friend, who was 14, to also work for him. Edmonds investigators learned that the girl and her friend had been taken into protective custody by Kent police in early July after they were found asleep in a car with men who were 18 and 20. The group claimed they had been driving around shooting a pellet gun.

The officer in Kent did not have evidence of a crime, but he was so concerned about the girls and their skimpy outfits that he took photographs and called their parents.

That same month, Facebook messages between the girl and the man who called himself Blade showed him asking about the 14-year-old, saying “You guys will make hella money together.” The 14-year-old told police she had never followed through on the offers to have sex for money.

Later in the summer, the Edmonds girl and the man got into an argument on Facebook because he wanted to exert more control over her life and who she was friends with. He said she was wasting opportunities to make money because, “I got all these tricks set up for you.”

Around that time, police believe the girl started working with a second suspect, 22, whose street name was “Rakks.” He told her he was 17 and that she had to make him at least $500 a day, records show. Police believe that he also bought the girl a phone.

Under the court order, detectives were able to obtain copies of 12 ads from Backpage. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson is among those who have accused the website’s owners of promoting child sex trafficking.

The Backpage ads were linked to the third man, whose street name is “Shaq.” Four of the ads included sexually suggestive pictures of the Edmonds girl, claiming she was 18. The girl and Shaq had started communicating in June, days before the ads were posted. His last known address is in Burien, though some of the posts were linked to his grandmother’s home in Kent, court papers show.

In Facebook messages, the Burien man, who was 20 at the time, asked the girl her age.

She said: “My maturity is like 16 17 but in(sic) almost 13.”

The man told her he was too old for her, calling her “lil girl.” He told her to send nude photos for the ads. He also asked if she was “tryna make this money wit me.” He is the one police have accused of child rape.

She eventually stopped talking to him, too.

Detectives interviewed the girl in October. She said at least one of the men took all of the money she made while working for him.

She told police there was no connection between the three suspects.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.

Report trafficking

To report human trafficking, call the county’s 24-hour hotline at 425-258-9037. To request more information about trafficking or to set up an educational presentation, send an email to humantrafficking@providence.org.

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