Rural Walla Walla fire chief blames pandemic for getting caught in Tri-Cities sex sting

A now-former fire chief from rural Walla Walla County claims he knew the 13-year-old girl he was chatting with online wasn’t real and he was the target of a sting operation.

Yet, when he needed to run an errand to the Tri-Cities, he got curious and set up a meeting with the girl.

Otis Garbe, now 57, was arrested Aug. 27, 2020, when he showed up to have sex with the teen and had condoms in his pocket.

He admitted at the time that if it had been a real girl — and not an undercover detective — he would have gone through with it if she was willing, according to a presentencing report.

But earlier this month, Garbe told a community corrections officer that the real reason he had condoms in his pocket was to seal torn hoses on his farm’s tractor combine, the report said.

He claimed the condoms were being used as a temporary fix because of the latex glove shortage during the coronavirus pandemic.

Garbe, a married father of four, was president of his family’s business, Garbe Gardena, and chief of Walla Walla County Fire District 6 in Touchet. He’d been a volunteer firefighter for more than 35 years, and had served in the top spot for three years.

Now, Garbe will spend at least five years in prison, with the possibility of up to life.

He was sentenced last week in Benton County Superior Court by Judge Jackie Shea Brown.

The state Indeterminate Sentence Review Board will only consider his release after he’s served the entire minimum term, and will base its decision on Garbe’s behavior and sex offender treatment while behind bars.

He pleaded guilty in February to attempted second-degree rape of a child.

A second charge for communicating with a minor for immoral purposes via electronic communications was dismissed.

Deputy Prosecutor Laurel Holland said in court documents that Garbe’s plea to the one felony count was an appropriate resolution given his “lack of criminal history and the substantial sentence that accompanies the charge.”

Once released from prison, he will have to register as a sex offender.

Richland task force

According to court documents, detectives with the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children unit started an online undercover investigation of Garbe on July 10. The task force is based in Richland.

Over the next seven weeks, Garbe used a cellphone to message with the girl. Ninety percent of their communication was sexual in nature, including graphic phrases of what they’d do together, documents said.

Detectives say he drove from Touchet to Benton County on Aug. 27 to meet with the girl. However, police were waiting to arrest him.

Garbe had his work cellphone on him when arrested, along with a personal cell and a “secret phone” that were later found in his vehicle.

In the presentencing interview earlier this month with Community Corrections Officer Marcos Carmona, Garbe blamed his ultimate capture on the COVID pandemic.

Garbe claimed he used to receive robocalls — computerized auto-dialed calls with a prerecorded message — and would keep the operator on the line to “have fun with them.” That started him on a “robo adventure,” court documents said.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and the calls stopped coming, so Garbe turned to Craigslist to be a “pain” to people.

He browsed the “Men Looking for Women” category, and struck up a conversation with an adult woman that led to sex. He never talked to her again, he said.

Garbe said he went back on Craigslist and found a post that attracted him, yet he “instantly knew the advertisement was fictitious.”

“A lot of the responses he got seemed like he was trying to get baited,” Garbe told Carmona. “The female shared her age, and he knew it was wrong to be communicating with a female that young.”

Garbe claimed he ended it, until two days before his arrest when his tractor combine caught fire. He said he had to run to the Tri-Cities to pick up parts, and just happened to receive a message that day from the girl with a request to meet.

“The feeling he got was like he had to ‘finish a story book,’ and he had to see the outcome,” documents said. “He had a lot of things about work he was thinking about that day, and he wasn’t thinking clearly when it came to meeting with the fictitious female.”

Garbe told Carmona that he feels terrible about what happened and never expected it to go this far.

He added that he lost family and friends because of his arrest, and said they were the only true victims in his case.

This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 2:15 PM.