EVERETT — He picked up the girls, 15 and 16, from their sophomore high school orientation Wednesday.
Instead of sticking around and talking with their fellow 10th graders about the upcoming school year, they allegedly drove off with the clean-cut man, 23, headed for a supermarket parking lot to smoke marijuana.
Detectives with the Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force caught up with the suspected drug dealer on Wednesday and obtained a search warrant for his south Everett home. He allegedly admitted selling heroin and told officers they would find $3,000 in cash in his car.
At the home, detectives encountered the teens, both students at an area high school. They said he told them he’d give them marijuana if they cleaned up the room he rented at the home.
Detectives found heroin, a scale with heroin residue and a handgun in a bedroom safe. The gun had been reported stolen in July.
The 15-year-old told detectives that the man had been giving her methamphetamine and marijuana since they met around Aug. 11. She described the pipe she’d used to smoke meth with him.
She also said that the man had been having unprotected sex with her and knew that she was only 15.
The girl was taken to a hospital for a sexual assault exam and the allegations of sex with a minor were turned over to the Everett Police Department.
Sheriff’s Lt. Doug Jeske, a drug task force detective, said the 15-year-old girl reportedly has earned good grades, does not have a history of drug use and comes from a supportive family.
Jeske said the suspect allegedly preyed on impressionable and “very vulnerable” young women.
“The difference in maturity between a 23-year-old and a 15-year-old is huge,” he said.
The man was arrested for investigation of providing drugs to minors, possessing a stolen firearm and possessing drugs with the intent to sell them. The sex allegation remains under investigation.
Bail is set at $100,000 for the suspect who previously posted bond after being arrested on a different drug-related charge, according to court records.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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