EVERETT — A Sultan woman who apparently once posted “Stop Abuse On Children” on a social media page has now been jailed as part of an investigation that led police to thousands of photographic images of sexually exploited children.
Caitlin Ferry, 23, was arrested and booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of child molestation and sexually exploiting minors.
She is identified in court papers as the former girlfriend of Enrique Sanchez-Leon, a suspected child rapist and pornographer who was charged last week with child rape, first-degree child molestation and sexual exploitation of a minor.
Police seized computers containing video and photographic images from the Snohomish apartment the couple once shared. A detective in court papers described the extensive nature of Sanchez-Leon’s alleged crimes as “horrifying.”
Ferry is nude in a series of photographs recovered by detectives, prosecutors said. With her is a naked child, age 7. The court papers did not identify the child’s gender.
Photographs show Ferry in several positions with the child in which their nude bodies are touching or posed in a manner that is sexual in nature, detectives from the Snohomish Police Department wrote in an affidavit to establish probable cause for her arrest.
The photographs are believed to have been taken in a bedroom in Sanchez-Leon’s apartment.
Two teenagers also have provided statements to investigators in which they implicate Ferry for knowing about, encouraging or participating in alleged sexual exploitation, according to court papers.
Prosecutors alleged the abuse occurred in 2011 in the Snohomish apartment Sanchez-Leon once shared with Ferry. They said Sanchez-Leon took sexually explicit photographs of the girls, 16 and 15.
Investigators have identified multiple children and teenagers in the images seized from the apartment. At least three girls reportedly told detectives that Sanchez-Leon, 39, sexually abused them. Others have reported that Sanchez-Leon took sexually explicit photographs of them, plying them with gifts or offering them money.
A Facebook page linked to Ferry said she worked for a Snohomish business that helped with computer problems and antivirus software. “Also we do photography,” the page said.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Adam Cornell last week charged Sanchez-Leon with four counts of first-degree child rape, two counts of first-degree child molestation and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
He is being held in the Snohomish County Jail on $1 million bail. Sanchez-Leon also is being held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Investigators believe the defendant is in the country illegally, Cornell wrote in court papers.
Bail for Ferry, 23, was set at $25,000 in Everett District Court on Monday. She was arrested Friday. No charges have been filed.
Once he is able to meet with some of the girls identified through the investigation, Cornell expects to file additional charges against Sanchez-Leon.
There may be more victims. The investigation is continuing.
“My expectation is it will take several weeks to go through the sheer volume” of images, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office bureau chief Kevin Prentiss said. “It would not surprise me if more victims are identified.”
Sanchez-Leon came to the attention of police detectives in Snohomish after two sisters, 5 and 8, went to family members about the alleged abuse.
The girls reportedly told detectives that Sanchez-Leon forced them to perform sex acts with him while he videotaped or photographed them. The defendant reportedly admitted that he began grooming the girls for sexual abuse a couple of years ago, Cornell wrote.
Sanchez-Leon allegedly told detectives that he had taken thousands of photographs of Ferry in sexual poses during the time they lived together and that he had stored them on his computers.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
