Five men are facing felony charges after Fife police say they each separately arranged to pay a 13-year-old girl for sex — a girl who turned out to be an undercover detective's invention. Vincent Feaster, 57; Boualian Chaykhane, 45; Jesse Crocker, 40; Nathan Hull, 29; and Mark Kuzmych, 26, were each charged with second-degree attempted child rape, commercial sexual abuse of a minor, and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.
According to the Spokesman-Review, Fife police officers built a profile for a fictional 13-year-old named Nycole on a prostitution website as part of the sting. When the men asked her for photos, officers sent back an age-regressed picture of a police officer rather than any real image of a child, the outlet reports. The decoy profile claimed Nycole had run away from home, according to the same account.
Each man allegedly messaged Nycole individually on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10 and struck a deal to pay her for sex, per the report. Several of the men reportedly told Nycole they themselves were 19 — Kuzmych and Chaykhane among them, according to the station's reporting. The men then allegedly tried to meet up with her in a room in Fife even after she told them her age, the outlet notes.
What Officers Found During the Arrests
Court documents do not say where in Fife the arrests took place, because the location is reportedly still used for undercover operations, per the Spokesman-Review. During the arrests, officers allegedly found money and condoms on each of the men. Kuzmych and Feaster also allegedly had pills on them, while Chaykhane allegedly had three grams of marijuana and a bottle of whiskey, according to the same report.
Chaykhane also faces an additional charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer after he allegedly tried to run from police and resist arrest, per the News Tribune. Crocker reportedly claimed he intended to convince Nycole to stop soliciting sex online, according to the paper.
Criminal Histories and Court Conditions
The News Tribune reports that Feaster and Kuzmych both have criminal histories, while the other three men have clean records. Feaster reportedly served five years in a North Carolina prison tied to a 1991 firearm-carrying charge and 60 months for a related 1992 charge, according to the paper's account. He also had a 2004 charge of assaulting a government employee and a 2006 charge of giving fictitious information to an officer, the outlet reports, along with a 2014 deferral in Kent Municipal Court for patronizing a prostitute that was later dismissed.
Kuzmych's record includes two felony no-contact order violations, a fourth-degree domestic-violence assault, a domestic-violence no-contact order violation, a third-degree domestic-violence malicious-mischief charge, a driving-under-the-influence charge, an operating-a-motor-vehicle-without-an-ID charge, a reckless-driving charge, a domestic-violence harassment charge, and a third-degree malicious-mischief charge, according to the News Tribune. The paper notes that court documents do not provide dates or locations for those previous charges.
The five men were arraigned in Pierce County Superior Court Thursday afternoon, per the News Tribune's report. Four of the five will be released on personal recognizance, which requires attending all court hearings and complying with court conditions but does not require posting bail, the paper reports. Kuzmych alone faces $25,000 bail, according to the same account.
The News Tribune reports that all five men are barred from contacting minors or visiting schools or playgrounds; only Jesse Crocker, Nathan Hull and Mark Kuzmych are barred from coming within 1,000 feet of minors. They are also forbidden from using any internet-accessible electronic device except to contact their attorneys, and from leaving Pierce, King, Thurston and Kitsap counties, according to the paper.
How Washington Law Defines the Charge
Under RCW 9.68A.100, commercial sexual abuse of a minor covers soliciting, offering, or requesting sexual conduct with a minor in exchange for anything of value, and the statute classifies the offense as a class B felony.
