A 40-year-old Eugene man is in the Lincoln County jail on $200,000 bond after his arrest Thursday, Dec. 12 at Smelt Sands Beach State Park in Yachats during an online child luring sting by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Jose L. Sanchez Morales is accused of first-degree online sexual corruption of a child and two counts of child luring. His next court appearance is Dec. 20.
It was the second such arrest by the sheriff’s office in December after they began setting up online Facebook decoy accounts posing as underage girls or boys and responding to men seeking sex.
Detective Chris Marks and Deputy Garrett Brawdy arrested Sanchez about 3:30 p.m. Thursday after he went to the state park where police said Sanchez intended to meet a decoy posing as a 15-year-old Newport girl, according to two probable cause affidavits filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court.
The affidavits said Sanchez had been communicating with Marks’ decoy account since Oct. 30 and with Brawdy’s decoy account beginning Dec. 8. During online chats he talked about having sex with the decoys even after they said they were 15 years old.
The Lincoln City Police Department has been conducting child luring stings for several years; the sheriff’s office recently added a similar operation.