2 Tri-City men arrested in another ‘Net Nanny’ operation

Two Tri-City men were swept up in a recent child sex sting in Kittitas County.

Omar A. Martinez, 24, of Pasco and Juan R. Mendoza, 29, from Richland were among the 13 “dangerous sexual predators” arrested during the multi-day effort, according to a news release from the Washington State Patrol.

This is the 14th “Operation Net Nanny” that has been done in Washington state since August 2015.

It involves undercover detectives using various websites and cellphone applications to chat with people interested in having sex with children.

The state patrol says they are targeting people involved in child abuse and child exploitation via the internet.

In total, 221 people have been arrested and more than 30 identified child victims have been rescued, the state patrol says.

A similar operation in the Tri-Cities in July 2017 resulted in the arrest of 26 men. Many of those defendants still face trials in Benton County Superior Court on suspicion of attempted rape of a child.

In the recent operation, based out of Ellensburg, “detectives believe two suspects have been recognized as having access to other children at risk of being abused,” the news release said.

Investigators are working to identify those children and arrange for appropriate assistance. They did not release the identities of the two suspects.

The 13 men arrested this time range in age from 22 to 65. In addition to the Tri-Cities, they are from Granger, Union Gap, Yakima, Ellensburg, Quincy, Easton and Tacoma.

Anyone with information related to the suspects or leading to the identity of victims potentially involved are asked to contact the state patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force at mectf@wsp.wa.gov.