Four arrested in Pierce County human trafficking operation, troopers say

DuPont, Wash. — Detectives with the Washington State Patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force on Friday announced the arrests of four people in a human trafficking operation.

Troopers said the focus of the investigation was on “arresting dangerous predators whose intent was to prey on juveniles.”

The four people arrested ranged in age from 26 to64 and were booked into jail on suspicion of human trafficking and commercial sex abuse of a minor.

Troopers said the suspects came from as far away as Tumwater to meet detectives posing as juveniles with the intent of committing sex acts.

No juveniles were used or were at risk during the operation.

DuPont Police Chief Douglas Newman released the following statement on the operation:

“While DuPont is a safe community, we are not naive to the fact that being situated along the I-5 corridor brings with it transient crime, to include human trafficking and child predators. The safety of our children and citizens is our number one priority, and we want to send a message to anyone who is thinking of victimizing the innocent: Don’t come to DuPont to hurt our kids or our community. I would like to extend my thanks to MECTF and all of the local and federal partner agencies who participated in this operation. The DuPont Police Department is proud to be their partner in this important regional effort.”

The operation was conducted alongside officials from the Dupont Police Department, Lakewood Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Nisqually Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

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