Man gets 13 years for enticement of minor

A 38-year-old Clarkston man was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for responding to an ad to have sex with two minor girls.

David E. Curry was sentenced at Yakima on Wednesday on two counts of attempted enticement of a minor by Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian after being convicted in a trial Dec. 6.

Curry was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office Eastern District of Washington.

According to the news release, court documents and information from the trial and sentencing showed that Curry responded to an online ad placed by a woman claiming to be the mother of two daughters, ages 11 and 13, and was looking for a man to have sex with the children.

The ad was actually placed by an undercover officer as part of a sting operation conducted by Washington State Patrol, assisted by Yakima and Union Gap, Wash., police and Homeland Security Investigations.

Curry traveled to a home in Yakima from Kennewick to have sex with the two minor girls and was arrested. He had condoms and flavored lubricant with him.

Curry was initially charged in Yakima County Superior Court with attempted first-degree rape of a child and second-degree attempted rape of a child.

He was released on bail, and afterward a Homeland Security Investigations Task Force officer responded to an online ad placed by Curry. An undercover officer claimed to be a 13-year-old girl and Curry engaged the officer in sexual talk, requested nude photos and arranged to meet in person.

Curry also purchased flavored lubricant related to the child’s favorite candy for a meeting planned the next day, which didn’t take place, according to the news release.

Bastian presided over the trial, which began Dec. 4 and took two days for the jury to return a guilty verdict on all counts. Michael Murphy, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, prosecuted the case.

“Even while on release for related crimes, Mr. Curry attempted to find a young child to victimize,” Vanessa Waldref, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington said in the news release.

She thanked Homeland Security Investigations, which investigated the case, as well as local partners and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for their work in responding to sexual exploitation of children through technology and protecting children.

The case was also investigated with the help of Washington State Patrol, Yakima Police Department and the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force with the Richland and Kennewick police departments.

“Predators like Mr. Curry are motivated to target their victims through mouse clicks and keystrokes, and any sentence punishing his perverse actions is an important step in ensuring cyberspace is kept free of those that seek to exploit children,” special agent in charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations operations in the Pacific Northwest, said in the news release.

The case was part of the Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, which began in 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.