CRIME WATCH: Five men arrested in West Seattle, charged with seeking to pay underage girls for sex

Last weekend, we heard several mentions of arrests in The Junction that didn’t seem tied to specific incidents or Southwest Precinct police. Then we heard from a resident who saw a heavy response of officers after one of the arrests and told us an officer told them it was about “molestation.” That led us to suspect officers were arresting suspects who thought they were showing up to meet, and potentially sexually abuse, juveniles, but learned they had been communicating with police instead.

Following up this week with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, we confirmed that’s what was going on. Five men arrested in West Seattle – none from here – have since been charged. According to charging documents:

30-year-old Chien-Cheng Wang of North Seattle is charged with Communication With a Minor For Immoral Purposes and Attempted Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor. He was arrested Saturday evening near 41st and Alaska, where he allegedly thought he was going to meet up with a 15-year-old girl and pay her $300 for sex.

45-year-old Inderjeet S. Nehal of Everett is also charged with Communication With a Minor For Immoral Purposes and Attempted Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor. He was arrested late last Friday night at an address that cross-references to the Bank of America parking lot in The Junction, where he allegedly thought he was going to meet up with a 14-year-old girl and pay her $50 for sex.

21-year-old Jordan M. Kaapana-Ross of Kent is also charged with Communication With a Minor For Immoral Purposes and Attempted Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor. He was arrested earlier last Friday evening, also in or near the Junction B of A lot, after allegedly arranging to meet up with a 14-year-old girl and pay her $150 for sex.

32-year-old Curt R. Naraval of Spanaway is also charged with Communication With a Minor For Immoral Purposes and Attempted Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor. He wa arrested Saturday evening in the Junction B of A vicinity after allegedly arranging to meet up with two 15-year-old girls and pay them $250 for sex.

27-year-old Manuel C. Leggett of Burlington is also charged with Communication With a Minor For Immoral Purposes, and Attempted Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor. He was arrested Friday evening, also in the Junction B of A vicinity. after allegedly arranging to meet up with a 15-year-old girl and pay her $100 for sex.

The charging documents in these cases tell similar stories of the communication between the suspects and undercover officers representing themselves as teenage girls. No one involved was a West Seattle resident – the narratives in the charging documents say the meetup location here was suggested by the undercover officers for various reasons such as it was near where the “girl” lived. According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, this was part of a citywide effort to crack down on this kind of exploitation. The King County Jail register shows all five have been released; Nehal, Kaapana-Ross, and Leggett spent one day in jail; Wang and Naraval were in jail for two days. Arraignments for all five are scheduled early next week.

cheeseWS777 June 19, 2026 (5:11 pm)

Aren’t these the types of offenses that bail should be raised ridiculously high forI myself am not a huge supporter of the justice system but I don’t see why these tools were released right away

don'tblockme June 19, 2026 (5:56 pm)

All have been released? 🤦🏻‍♀️ I just don’t know what to say. SMH

Derp June 19, 2026 (6:19 pm)

Great job SPD, get these pedophiles off the street and out of the wh too.

WestSide 4 life June 19, 2026 (6:49 pm)

Absolutely disgusting. I cringe, every time I hear one of these Stories. I applaud the SP,D but wonder how many of these sickos don’t get caught. We can thank social media and nefarious sites that exist , which are accessible to our children. Unlike other fringe policies, I will pay more taxes to stop this abuse and fund more protections for our children.

Eww smh June 19, 2026 (6:52 pm)

Sick.

RS June 19, 2026 (6:59 pm)

Holy mackerel, what a world. Not comforted to hear that the Junction is now seedy enough for believable sting operations :(

WSB June 19, 2026 (7:40 pm)

This had nothing to do wth the character of The Junction. I suspect the size and emptiness of that particular parking lot. The charging documents include the text cpnversations and in one, for example, the undercover officer tells the guy they would have to meet in West Seattle because “I’m at my grandma’s, dude.”
- RS June 19, 2026 (11:07 pm)
  
  Thank you for reading through them for us, I’m sure that was not an easy task and it would certainly ruin my day.

A Concerned Citizen June 19, 2026 (7:13 pm)

Thank you to the staff at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office who are working on this and the law enforcement members who were involved. Please continue all your efforts on this important work.
“Dirtbag” is the word that comes to mind for anyone found guilty of seeking such interactions.

P.D. Phile June 19, 2026 (7:22 pm)

Just goes to show you what happens when you’re not rich enough to fly to a private island and have actual sex with minors, then have your name scrubbed, redacted, and protected from any prosecution forever.

Cross Xaminer June 20, 2026 (5:58 am)

Seems like these guys are getting roughly the same treatment. They were set free immediately and can go about trying again.
Disgusting June 20, 2026 (8:01 am)

Totally agree with you.

Richard Gave June 19, 2026 (7:31 pm)

I’ve lived long enough to know when something doesn’t seem right, and I truly believe there may be prostitution or even sex trafficking activity occurring in my immediate neighborhood. When law-abiding residents have evidence of suspicious behavior, what are we supposed to do? These kinds of crimes aren’t just big-city or Epstein Island problems—-they happen right in our own backyards here in West Seattle. I’d like to know what steps residents can take to report concerns and help keep our community safe. These criminals need to be held accountable.

Um June 19, 2026 (10:23 pm)

Um, call the police.
Alki Avenue Drag Racer June 20, 2026 (12:00 am)

Richard, if you believe that a minor is at risk of being exploited, I recommend that you call the police
HS June 20, 2026 (9:08 am)

Call the police and open a report about your concerns. There is a special unit that handles violence against minors, it’s too small, but there are dedicated officers at the SW precinct. You can ask the police questions about what you can / can’t do.

YES!!! June 20, 2026 (7:29 am)

Yes…yes…YES! Thank you to everyone that helped find these sickos and got them arrested. Be sure you pay attention to the history of your kids online. …. because they can be not only sexually assaulted (lifelong impact) but they can be kidnapped and even murdered. Pay attention and be alert for the safety of your child. probably a good idea to physically take their phone away from them at night and also to put restrictions on their phone access . (you can learn how to do that online at YouTube or with Google) teach them: they could be dead. . meanwhile thank you to all the people that help get these messed up guys caught.

BDR June 20, 2026 (7:54 am)

Obviously bail should have been higher so that had to stay in jail longer. Clearly they have goals to rape girls. Then, think about the cost to lure these creeps in and catch them. WSB any idea how much their bail was? Hate they are using WS as a meetup location because if you only read the headline, most would think this is a West Seattle issue, not just a convenient place SPD chose because there is a large empty parking lot close to the commercial district.

HS June 20, 2026 (8:54 am)

Good. Great work Seattle Police Dept. I cannot express how much I appreciate your work.

Mary June 20, 2026 (8:57 am)

I’m surprised by all the positive comments about this police sting. The men who are caught up in these police actions often have never actually sought out children for sex: they are contacted by police online, who can lie about anything and everything, and have been known to change their purported age AFTER making contact with targets. The police pick the “criminals,” set up the entire crime themselves, and then make an arrest, but somehow it’s not entrapment.If that’s not the case here and our police have actually targeted men who are known to seek out minors for sex, then I appreciate their efforts. I just know that often it’s easier for police to target clueless idiots online to get a good headline rather than take out real predators.

Mel June 20, 2026 (7:23 pm)

Regardless…they know the age before they drive all the way to West Seattle to meet up with an underage person for sex. You must be one of the people who wants to call pedophile ‘minor attracted persons’ to lessen the stigma. I however want them put away for a very long time.

flimflam June 20, 2026 (9:01 am)

All five have been released. Sick.

Jim June 20, 2026 (2:15 pm)

It’s absolutely disgusting!

anonyme June 20, 2026 (12:54 pm)

Clearly the bail was not set high enough. Scumbags like these who present an immediate danger to society should not be allowed to walk out of jail so easily. I also agree with those who point out that pedophiles in high places face no consequences at all. The “war” served as a distraction, but it’s time to expose and prosecute anyone and everyone named by the Epstein victims.

WSB June 20, 2026 (2:42 pm)

I don’t believe they bonded out; that’s not how it was noted on the jail roster. I will look up the individual case records late tonight (which takes some time and money; the charging documents were provided by the KCPAO following up on my original request for info. – TR