SEATTLE — The head of Kitsap 911 stepped down this week after he was arrested in a King County sex sting operation.
Former Kitsap 911 executive director Richard Kirton, 54, was charged Wednesday with attempted commercial sexual abuse of a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes. Prosecutors allege he traded sexually explicit messages and showed up at a Woodinville hotel last week to have sex with who he thought was a 16-year-old boy, King County prosecutors say.
The fictitious boy was actually an undercover Bellevue police detective working a joint operation with the King County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations focused on adults looking to have paid sex with juveniles, according to the charges against Kirton.
Kirton, of Silverdale, was arrested Friday night and booked into the King County Jail. He posted $5,000 bail and was released Sunday, jail records show.
He resigned from his job Tuesday, and Deputy Director Maria K. Jameson-Owens was appointed acting executive director until Kirton’s replacement is found, Kitsap 911 announced in a news release.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to order Kirton to not have any contact with minors, to refrain from using “dating or hook-up platforms” or websites advertising commercial sexual encounters and to have monitoring software installed on all his electronic devices, charging papers say.
During the undercover operation, detectives posed as “exploited juveniles” on social media sites. Once an adult made an offer and agreed to sex, they would give out a hotel’s location, charges say.
The Bellevue detective who communicated with Kirton had created an account on the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr. When the detective messaged, “Is it cool that I’m 16?” Kirton replied, “16 is legal so that works for me” and agreed to pay $100 for sex, according to the charges.
Though a person must be 16 to consent to sexual activity, if a person is under the age of 18, the person’s partner must be no more than five years older.
Two hours after exchanging his first message with the detective, Kirton arrived at a hotel and went to the room specified by the detective, charges say. Arrested just after 11 p.m. Friday, Kirton had on him the cellphone he used to communicate with the detective, $150 cash and a container of lubricant, charging papers say.
