‘Prolific child predator’ sentenced to 8 years in prison for child molestation, sexting daughters’ underage friends

A 59-year-old Spokane man called a “prolific child predator” by a detective will spend more than 8 years in prison for child molestation and sexting his daughters’ teenage friends, among other crimes.

Charles E. Green Jr. was arrested in May of 2018 after multiple teen girls came forward with allegations their friend’s father had been sexting them and attempting to trade drugs for sexual favors.

Those reports were investigated by Spokane Police Detective Ben Green, who is not related to Charles Green.

It took about three weeks for Detective Green to realize how many young girls may have been groomed by Charles Green.

“He operated under the radar with minimal criminal history until one day two of the girls came forward back in May 2018,” Detective Green said.

Police investigated allegations related to more than a dozen girls and 50 felonies. Ultimately, Charles Green was charged with more than 25 felonies but pleaded to six.

Charles Green allegedly offered drugs like marijuana and meth to his teen daughter’s friends in exchange for sexual favors, according to court documents. He texted his daughters’ friends, slowly taking the conversation in an inappropriate direction.

One of his daughters told police she believed Charles Green used surveillance cameras to watch her and her friend undress, according to court documents. The daughter also said she once saw her father watching a sexually explicit video of one of her friends, according to court documents.

Charles Green repeatedly told his daughters that their friends “could come to our house, get roofied …” and he would assault them, according to what his daughters told investigators. Green frequently provided drugs and alcohol to teenagers at his house as an enticement for them to come over, according to court records.

One victim told investigators it’s hard for her and her friends to know if or how Charles Green assaulted them because he got them so intoxicated.

“There’s so many people and like you have no clue like what he did to them, like nobody knows what he’s done to use, like he would get us so drunk,” she told police, according to court documents.

Some of the young girls, mostly 13 and 14, would block one of Charles Green’s numbers only for him to text them from a different number, according to court documents.

“He’s the most prolific child predator I’ve worked on in my career,” Detective Green said in an interview after the sentencing.

The detective called Charles Green “incredibly manipulative,” someone who targeted a “cross section” of society in the Shadle neighborhood, which made him even more dangerous.

After years of court dates and investigation, Green pleaded guilty in May to one count of first-degree child molestation and two counts of second-degree child molestation. He received a sentence of 98 months to life for the first-degree charge and 57 months for each of the second-degree charges, all to be served concurrently.

On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree domestic violence assault and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

He was sentenced to 57 months for each of the assault charges and 60 months for the communication charge.

Deputy Prosecutor Jerry Scharosch credited the “exemplary work” of the Spokane Police Department that made the plea deal possible.

“They really protected a lot of young girls through their investigation,” Scharosch said.

Charles Green is required to petition for release and prove he is not a threat to society as part of his sentence for first-degree child molestation. If he is released, Charles Green will have to register as a sex offender and be under the supervision of the Department of Corrections for the rest of his life.

“I’m glad to see that we finally got it done for these victims,” Detective Green said. “I support the plea deal. I think it was the best that we could have accomplished for the victims and to get some form of justice. I don’t think anything will ever pay for the amount of damage he caused to so many young girls in our community.”

Detective Green encouraged people who are experiencing or have experienced sexual assault or harassment to “speak out and keep speaking out.”

“If you tell someone and they don’t listen, tell someone else,” Detective Green said.