Former Spokane-area coach pleads guilty

by EMRY DINMAN
Staff Writer | February 17, 2020 10:52 PM

SPOKANE — A former Ferris High School assistant football coach pleaded guilty this week to soliciting sex from underage Moses Lake and Spokane girls in 2018, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Charles Eglet, 30, pleaded guilty in a Spokane federal court Wednesday to production of child pornography and online enticement of a minor. A plea agreement was reached for a prison sentence of just over 22 years, though the judge overseeing the case will not make a sentencing decision until May, The Spokesman-Review wrote.

Eglet had originally faced state charges of child rape, child molestation and communicating with a child for immoral purposes. He was booked into Spokane County Jail after being caught by a sting operation by Washington State Patrol troopers, police records show.

WSP Sgt. Dan McDonald, who led the investigation, said in an interview at the time that Eglet had used Snapchat to contact underage girls and track their location through the app’s geolocation feature. Snapchat, a mobile phone messaging service, can track the location of users who activate the feature on their profiles. Eglet’s account did not have the feature activated, McDonald said, which prevented the victim from realizing Eglet wasn’t a peer.

Prior to the arrest, Eglet had been messaging the victim, a 15-year-old girl from Moses Lake. She assumed he was a high school student, McDonald said.

The victim eventually agreed to see Eglet, McDonald said. Afterward, the victim and her mother went to authorities.

McDonald said that the victim deserved respect for coming forward, as many do not, and that coming forward may have prevented more people from being victimized.

In court, Eglet agreed that prosecutors could prove that he had pursued sex with the Moses Lake girl and admitted to the judge that he had met for sex with a 14-year-old Spokane girl and videotaped that encounter in July 2018, according to The Spokesman-Review.

As he has pleaded guilty in federal court, the state charges Eglet had been facing will be dropped.