Jury selection begins Monday in a Tri-Cities man's federal trial in connection with an online child sex sting operation.
David Elmo Curry, 38, of Kennewick, was one of 15 men arrested in "Operation Net Nanny," an online sting targeting men who prosecutors say were seeking to have sex with minors.
Curry is the only one of the 15 to be tried in federal court, and court documents state the trial will last four days.
In the operation, Washington State Patrol troopers went online masquerading as either a 13-year-old girl who was interested in having sex or a mother looking for a man to sexually "mentor" her young daughters.
The men were directed to a home in Yakima to have sex, only to be placed under arrest when they arrived.
Curry is charged with two counts of attempted enticement of a minor.
In the first count, prosecutors allege that Curry responded to a woman's request to have sex with her two daughters, and arrived at the home in Yakima on Nov. 16, 2019, with a bag of condoms and lubricant, according to court documents.
While out of custody on that charge, Curry posted an online ad looking for sex with a woman, and a woman responded saying she was younger but interested, according to court documents. During the course of the conversation the woman, actually a U.S. Homeland Security Investigations detective, described herself as "almost 14," and Curry asked for a picture, and a filtered photo of an undercover officer was sent to him.
During the email and text message exchange, Curry sent photos of his genitals and proposed times and places to meet, as well as sex acts they could perform. While Curry never actually met with the the person he was writing, he did purchase a lubricant the woman requested.
In court documents, defense attorney Craig Webster said he plans to argue entrapment, as he feels the evidence will show Curry was not inclined to have sex with minors until the undercover detectives repeatedly contacted him.
But prosecutors said in a court document that the evidence, including transcripts of their communications, will show that Curry was not pressured into wanting to have sex with minors.
