Everett, WA

Categories:

Tactics Used
Auto Seizure ✓
Buyer Arrests ✓
Cameras ✓
Community Service ✓
Employment Loss ✓
Identity Disclosure ✓
IT Based Tactics ✓
John School ✓
Letters ✓
License Suspension ✓
Neighborhood Action ✓
Public Education ✓
Reverse Stings ✓
SOAP Orders ✓
Web Stings ✓

Everett is a city of 112,000 residents located in Snohomish County, Washington, just 25 miles north of Seattle. It has a population of roughly 112,000 residents. Among the problems associated with the local commercial sex market have been the sexual exploitation of minors and targeted sexual assault against prostituted women. For example, in October 2018, the FBI Seattle Division Child Exploitation Task Force (CETF) and their partners conducted an operation in Everett to recover juvenile victims of sex trafficking and identify subjects suspected of commercially exploiting children and/or adults. The CETF identified 11 adult females and two juvenile females who were being exploited through prostitution. The CETF also recorded at least one case of targeted assault on a prostituted woman. Additionally, they reported a case where a prostituted woman shot a sex buyer in the head with a pistol.

In an effort to address the demand for commercial sex, The Everett Police Department and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office have worked together to execute reverse sting operations in the community since at least 1988. The EPD has also implemented web-based reverse sting operations, beginning in 1995. Since 1993, individuals arrested for prostitution or soliciting prostitution in Everett are subject to geographic probation restrictions (SOAP Orders). This means that sex buyers can be ordered to stay away from well-known marketplaces for drugs and prostitution and, if found there, can be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.

In addition to street-level reverse sting operations, more recent efforts have included web-based reverse sting operations. For example, in 2017, the EPD conducted a web-based reverse sting that resulted in the arrest of eight male sex buyers, ranging in age from 26 to 60 years old, after they allegedly attempted to arrange to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex in response to an online ad. In this same sting, a middle school teacher was arrested and pleaded guilty to communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Additionally, a bus driver for the school district was arrested and pleaded guilty in the case. The identities of the arrestees were publicly disclosed.

In May 2021, a 32-year-old man was found guilty of human trafficking, leading organized crime, and four counts of promoting prostitution. Near the end of May 2019, the Criminal Intelligence Unit partnered with Everett police and the Snohomish County Regional Drug Task Force to organize an operation targeting sex buyers in Everett. During the operation, two prostituted women were discovered. Detectives learned that the women were being trafficked out of a car with another female victim. The man who was trafficking them moved from city to city, forcing them to prostitute at night and keeping their belongings and money so they were forced to rely on him.

Key Sources

Street-Level Reverse Stings, Identity Disclosure:

Web-Based Reverse Stings, Identity Disclosure:

SOAP Orders:

Neighborhood Action:

Cameras:

  • “Smile! The Police Are Watching You; Everett Cameras Combat Crime,” Seattle Times, July 24 1997.
  • “Focus on Everett Crime Fight Is on Surveillance Cameras,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 9 1998.
  • “Crime-Fighting Cameras?” Seattle Times, July 14 1998.
  • “Police Cameras to Keep Watch, Security vs. Privacy an Issue in Everett,” Seattle Times, February 2 2000.

John School (discontinued):

Proposed Identity Disclosure:

  • “Everett Councilman Proposes Shame as Prostitution Punishment,” Everett Daily Herald, September 4 2007.
  • “Prostitutes’ Customers Won’t Go on TV; Ron Gipson’s Plan to Shame Men Convicted of Soliciting Prostitutes Raised Legal Questions,” Everett Daily Herald, January 10 2008.

Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:

Background on Prostitution in the Area:

Documented Violence Against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:

State Washington
Type City
Population 109766
Location
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