EVERETT — Sometimes it helps to keep up on current events.
News of a sex sting in Snohomish County ran far and wide in newspapers, on social media and over the airwaves Monday and Tuesday. Operation Anvil, which involved sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshal’s Office, used Craigslist ads with detectives posing as an underage teen.
Eight men, including a teacher and a school bus driver in his bus, were among the eight arrested during the sting, which lasted from Thursday into Sunday. Several allegedly believed they’d been communicating with a 15-year-old girl.
The story went national, appearing in The Washington Post and elsewhere.
Yet the text messages answering the ads have kept trickling in since then.
“They (detectives) were surprised,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. “It’s all part of that you couldn’t make this up if you tried.”
On Tuesday morning, detectives received an inquiry from a 35-year-old Marysville man who reportedly believed he was texting with a 17-year-old girl. He allegedly offered to pay $100 and provide marijuana for the girl to have sex with him and his girlfriend.
He was arrested a short time later leaving a motel room on his way to a fast-food restaurant where he’d allegedly agreed to meet the fictitious teen.
He’d been released from prison Aug. 21 after serving a term for drug possession and violating a domestic-violence court order, according to the state Department of Corrections. He’s being held on $50,000 bail in the Snohomish County Jail.
On Wednesday, two days after the news of the sting broke, a Mukilteo man, 28, came calling. He was arrested at a downtown Everett fast-food restaurant where he’d reportedly agreed to meet and pay the fictitious teen $50 for sex.
Both men were arrested for investigation of commercial sex abuse of a minor, a felony.
Ireton said she wouldn’t be surprised if there are more responses to the phony ad.
“Sadly it’s like fishing,” she said. “It just takes a few minutes to get a bite.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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