The Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office has charged nine suspects with attempted child rape, including a 48-year-old Enumclaw man.
Eric Kermit Jacobson was arrested and charged with first-degree attempted rape of a child and commercial sex abuse of a minor Dec. 17. He is in custody in the Pierce County jail and bail has been set at $250,000.
The nine were charged following a two-week undercover operation by the Washington State Patrol and the Exploited Children Task Force. According to the charging documents, the suspects responded to online posting and a “Craig’s List chat room.” The suspects contacted the undercover detectives during the operation through emails and cell phones.
According to a Washington State Patrol probable cause document, between Dec. 7-16 a detective worked undercover posing as a mother with three children, a 13-year-old boy, an 11-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old daughter.
In Jacobson’s case, the document stated, “The defendant emailed, texted and spoke on the phone with undercover detectives acting in their assumed personas and agreed to meet and commit sex acts with the 11-year-old daughter.”
The investigating officers noted Jacobson was “very cautious about getting caught and used applications to conceal his phone number.”
According to the charging documents he agreed to provide a gift card for sex acts with the child and agreed to meet the undercover officer in Tacoma.
The detective wrote, “When he (Jacobson) arrived at the meeting location he was arrested. He had a cell phone, condoms, lube and Skittles on his person. The officers were able to confirm the cell phone was the same device he had used to communicate with the officers for the sex acts. The defendant agreed to an interview and requested an attorney.”
All of the nine cases involved undercover detectives posing as the mother or children with the suspects seeking sex encounters from the children. In some of the cases the suspects were seeking sex from a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. In others the suspects were seeking relations with the 11 and 8 year old girls. Others were attempting contact with a 13-year-old boy and the girls.
The nine suspects are:
• Paul Anthony Carson, 59, Olympia
First-degree attempted rape of a child
• Eric Kermit Jacobsen, 48, Enumclaw
First-degree attempted rape of a child and commercial sex abuse of a minor
• Anthony Ray Blankenship, 32, Tacoma, (not in custody)
Second-degree attempted rape of a child and communication with a minor for immoral purposes
• Charles Andrew Drury, 50, Puyallup
First-degree attempted rape of a child and commercial sex abuse of a minor
• Manuel Antonio Figueroa, 37, Federal Way
Second-degree attempted rape of a child and commercial sex abuse of a minor
• Jehran Steven Franklin, 20, Puyallup (not in custody)
Second-degree attempted rape of a child
• Shelley Dianne Harper, 51, Vancouver, Wash.
Second-degree attempted rape of a child and commercial sex abuse of a minor
• Robert John Quintero, 49, Vancouver, Wash.
First-degree attempted rape of a child and commercial sex abuse of a minor
• Kenneth Paul Zimmerman, 57, Puyallup (not in custody)
Second-degree attempted rape of a child
