A Clarkston man arrested in 2019 during an online child-sex sting has been found guilty in federal court.
A federal jury deliberated for less than two hours Wednesday before finding David Elmo Curry, 38, guilty of two counts of attempted enticement of a minor following a three-day trial at the federal courthouse in Yakima.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Stanley A. Bastian allowed Curry to remain out of custody while awaiting his March 26, 2024, sentencing.
Curry was one of 15 men arrested in "Operation Net Nanny," an online operation where undercover officers looked for men willing to have sex with minors.
Prosecutors said Curry responded to a woman who was looking for a man to sexually "mentor" her 11- and 13-year-old daughters, and following instructions from the undercover detectives, arrived at a Yakima home were he was placed under arrest Nov. 16, 2019.
A month later, while on pretrial release, Curry placed an online ad looking for a woman with whom he could have sex, and he got a response from a woman who then told him she was "almost 14," according to court documents. Curry was living in Kennewick at the time.
In reality, Curry was conversing with a detective with federal Homeland Security. While Curry never met to have sex with the girl, he did go out and buy a lubricant the girl had requested.
Curry testified that in the second case he realized that the person he was communicating with was a cop but decided to string them along as a way to waste detectives' time and resources.
Curry is the third of the 15 to be convicted in a jury trial, and the only one charged in federal court. Six others entered plea deals in Yakima County Superior Court while five are awaiting trial in Yakima County Superior Court. One has a warrant out for his arrest for failing to appear for a court hearing.
