A man in his 40s is behind bars after Everett police say he spent time at Walter E. Hall Park trying to coax three young girls, ages 11 to 13, into his minivan on August 5, offering one a ride and later inviting her into his vehicle before a community member noticed something was wrong and stepped in. It took investigators nearly a week of tracking the suspect's vehicle through the city's network of license plate reader cameras before they could finally locate and arrest him.
According to police, the man approached one of the girls while she was walking to the park and asked her where she was going. As reported by FOX 13 Seattle, he later offered her a ride and, in a separate encounter, invited her into his van and offered her alcohol. The girl declined the ride, but she later noticed the same man waiting at the park again.
A community member intervened after seeing one of the girls looking uncomfortable, police say, and stepped in to talk with her. Police say the man's van left the park during that conversation. The bystander called 911, and while a child who was later shown the suspect was unable to confirm whether he was the same man, Everett Police Department investigators pressed forward with the case.
A Week-Long Trail Through License Plate Data
Everett police say they were notified of the suspect's location through the city's license plate reader system about one week after the initial report. Officers used data from those cameras to piece together the minivan's travel timeline, police say, eventually locating the driver at an address registered to the vehicle and finding the minivan itself parked nearby.
When questioned, the man told police he had not been at the park and had changed his clothes, according to investigators. He was nonetheless taken into custody and booked into Snohomish County Jail, accused of attempting to lure a minor. Everett police thanked the community members who intervened and reported the incident.
What Washington Law Says About Luring Charges
Under Washington State law, child luring is classified as a Class C felony, according to RCW 9A.40.090, carrying a maximum penalty of up to five years in state prison and a fine of as much as $10,000. The statute applies when a stranger attempts to entice a minor under 16 into a vehicle or hidden structure without parental consent.
Walter E. Hall Park, where the incident unfolded, is a 137-acre municipal park at 1226 W. Casino Road in South Everett featuring athletic fields, a skate park, playgrounds and an 18-hole golf course, according to the City of Everett. Casino Road is a heavily populated neighborhood corridor with nearby middle and elementary schools.
Cameras That Were Briefly Turned Off
The technology that helped crack this case has had a bumpy year in Everett. Mayor Cassie Franklin temporarily switched off the city's license plate reader cameras in February following a Snohomish County Superior Court ruling that the footage was subject to public disclosure, reactivating the system in April after Governor Bob Ferguson signed a new state law, as reported by KIRO 7 News Seattle.
That law, Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6002, known as the Driver Privacy Act, exempts automated license plate reader data from public records requests and limits standard data retention to 21 days, according to Flock Safety. Everett signed a two-year, $550,000 grant-funded contract with the company in June 2024 to deploy 68 cameras across major corridors, a system that launched that October, HeraldNet reported. The Everett Police Department's Flock Safety policy, updated in April, states the cameras capture vehicle photos and license plate data for cross-referencing against law enforcement databases but are barred from using facial recognition or monitoring speed and parking violations, per the City of Everett.
A Track Record of High-Stakes Arrests
Between the system's October 2024 launch and its brief February suspension, Everett police used the cameras to make more than 250 arrests and assist in locating missing persons, according to the Everett Post. Hoodline previously reported on a license-plate hit in May that led Everett and Lake Stevens police to intercept a wanted felon's vehicle, uncovering a pound of fentanyl, a pound of heroin and methamphetamine during a K-9 search.
The park case also arrives amid a broader regional push against crimes targeting children. In July, a multi-agency operation dubbed Operation Guardian, led by the Washington State Patrol, resulted in 21 arrests across Snohomish County targeting child sexual exploitation and abuse. Taken together with this month's arrest, the cases point to license plate technology becoming a routine tool for Snohomish County agencies chasing suspects across municipal lines without resorting to high-speed pursuits, a trend Hoodline also noted in its recent coverage of a Marysville fugitive's cliff jump.
