Arraignment hearings are now in the books for all five of the men arrested in West Seattle – though none of them live here – for allegedly arranging to pay for sex with what they thought would be underage girls. We reported a week and a half ago on the charges filed after the undercover online police operation. Four of the men were arraigned last week; a fifth waived his right to a speedy arraignment and appeared before a judge today. All five pleaded not guilty to the two felony charges filed against each, Communication With a Minor For Immoral Purposes and Attempted Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor. According to the minutes filed online, all the hearings were brief, from two minutes to eight minutes long. We did learn from the arraignment documents that all five were out on bail – and the amounts varied: Bail for 30-year-old Chien-Cheng Wang of North Seattle was set at $5,000; for 32-year-old Curt R. Naraval of Spanaway,
21-year-old Jordan M. Kaapana-Ross of Kent, and 27-year-old Manuel C. Leggett of Burlington, bail was set at $75,000 each. All five were arrested at separate times over the course of two days at or near the West Seattle Junction Bank of America parking lot, the location suggested by the undercover detective, offering various explanations such as that was near the “girl’s” home or where the “girl” was staying with a relative. All five defendants remain out on bail and have their next hearings scheduled later in the summer.