Another sex sting culprit gets prison

COEUR d’ALENE — A 32-year-old man who drove from his job in Athol to have sex with a 13-year-old girl in Coeur d’Alene was sentenced Monday to no more than seven years in prison.

Manuel J. Gomez was the third man to be convicted of enticing a child, as part of a multi-agency sting operation that nabbed eight adults last August outside a Coeur d’Alene hotel where they went, thinking they were about to have sex with teens.

Gomez was sentenced in Coeur d’Alene’s First District to a mandatory two years behind bars, and an additional five years that can be imposed at the discretion of the Idaho Department of Correction.

The maximum penalty for the felony is 15 years in prison.

Attorneys Monday said Gomez had engaged in an online conversation with police posing as the mother of a 13-year-old daughter who was looking for “family” sex with a man.

The ad, posted by law enforcement in a Craigslist personal section, referred to “family fun,” a term that required some previous knowledge on the part of the defendant, District Judge Lansing Haynes said.

“Apparently knowing what that meant,” Haynes said. “Offering that one may partake in a sexual acts … with the child and the adult accompanying the child.”

Having that knowledge was a mark against Gomez, Haynes said.

“You were adamant, insistent and explicit about your undisguised intent of being sexually active with this child,” the judge said.

The court must send a message, Haynes said, that society won’t tolerate the behavior Gomez exhibited.

“Society has to state its stance on this conduct,” Haynes said. “It’s this court’s belief that our community unequivocally wants to send a strong message to people who do what you’ve done.”

Gomez was among eight people busted in the child sex sting that included federal Homeland Security agents and local law enforcement who placed ads in Craigslist. The ads prompted suspects to drive to the Springhill Suites in Coeur d’Alene, where they were told they’d have sex with teens.

Chavis W. Jackson, 31, a Spokane radiologist, was convicted last week of felony enticement of a child under 16, and sentenced to a prison rider program as part of a seven-year sentence. Ronald Nold, 65, will be sentenced in July.