Ex-recruiter gets 15 years in sex sting plea

Ex-recruiter gets 15 years in sex sting plea
By Bill Draper - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Oct 19, 2009 19:02:24 EDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Navy recruiter who showed up at a sex sting wearing his uniform was sentenced Monday to 15 years in federal prison for trying to arrange to have sex with an 11-year-old.

Shane Allan Childers, 32, of Olathe, Kan., pleaded guilty in July to attempting to obtain a minor for a commercial sex act. Prosecutors said he responded to an ad posted on Craigslist offering “little girls” for sex, using his government-issued work computer and cell phone to arrange the encounter.

When Childers showed up in early March at an undercover house in Kansas City, he was wearing his Navy uniform, though he had taken off his uniform shirt and was wearing an undershirt, investigators said.

Prosecutors said Childers was arrested after paying an undercover officer $60 to have sex with the nonexistent 11-year-old and an extra $20 to do so without a condom.

The sting, dubbed “Operation Guardian Angel,” targeted the demand for child prostitutes in the Kansas City area, prosecutors said. The resulting prosecution was the first time the federal government has gone after customers of child prostitution under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/10/ap_navy_childers_plea_101909/