Police posing as underage girl on Craigslist results in arrest of fellow officer on sex offences

Christopher Dunkes answered a Craigslist advertisement by an undercover officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl

Ruling came after Brexit Secretary David Davis brought case, backed by privacy and human rights groups (PA)

A police sex-sting operation in Northern Virginia, aimed at finding men who wanted to have sex or commit indecent acts with juveniles, has nabbed a fellow officer in Maryland, officials said on Monday.

Christopher Dunkes, 27, a patrolman with the Montgomery County Police Department, answered a Craigslist advertisement posted by an undercover officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl from Prince William County, detectives said in a criminal complaint filed in Prince William court.

Dunkes emailed and texted with the undercover officer about sex acts, according to the complaint. He twice proposed a specific act and suggested that they meet in his car, according to the court document.

He agreed to meet the undercover officer at a Target store and was arrested without incident, police said.

Dunkes has been suspended without pay, said Capt. Paul Starks, a Montgomery police spokesman. Dunkes had joined the force in 2014 and most recently had been assigned to the Bethesda bureau.

"We are cooperating with the investigation,” Starks said. “Our internal affairs division is communicating with Prince William County police.”

Dunkes was charged in Virginia with three counts of using a communication device to facilitate offenses with juveniles, according to Prince William County police.

Montgomery County police officer Christopher Dunkes (Prince William County Police)

Dunkes was being held without bond Monday, said an official at the Prince William jail. It was not clear from court records whether he has an attorney.

The week-long sting operation began June 6, Prince William police said. It was a proactive operation and not in response to any specific incident.

"During this operation, undercover detectives used social media and an undisclosed online site where they posed as underage juveniles,” Prince William police said in the statement. “Male suspects contacted the undercover detectives and, during the course of communications, solicited sexual or indecent acts. These conversations involving the accused parties took place through electronic means. In each of the incidents, the suspect made arrangements to meet the undercover detective at a public location in Prince William County. Once there, detectives arrested the individual without incident.”

Police identified six other men arrested as Steven Castillo, 20, of Woodbridge; Jeffrey H. Dimond, 35, of Fredericksburg; Curtis M. Jenkins, 54, of Fairfax; Jordan Kolbinskie, 23, of Manassas; David Lee Mathes, 58, of Warrenton; and Chad M. Warner, 24, of Sterling.

Copyright: Washington Post