Three of 10 caught in prostitution sting plead guilty

PALMER — Of the 10 men arrested in October when police ran a prostitution sting, three chose not to fight the charges and pleaded out at their first hearing.

Gregory C. Ray, 42, of Palmer; Gregory S. Hutchins, 50, of Wasilla; and Tyler Henslee, 31, of Anchorage, all pleaded guilty to soliciting prosecution when they came to court for their Dec. 1 arraignment.

Palmer Police Detective Sgt. Kelly Turney, one of the officers who ran the sting, said all three men were ordered to pay a $500 fine and were put on probation for a year. They also had to forfeit their cell phones and the money they brought for use in the transaction.

Of the remaining seven men, six have hired private attorneys and one has been assigned a public defender.

Carl D. Cook, 44, of Anchorage, Steven A. Brown, 59, of Wasilla, Jeremy Firth, 30, of Wasilla and Scottie Mack, 27, of Wasilla have all retained either Richard Payne or Jon-Marc Petersen of the Denali Law Group in Wasilla.

Christopher Seeley, 31, of Palmer, has hired Joshua Fannon of Palmer.

Christopher Schoff, 46, of Eagle River, has hired Eagle River attorney Roy Williams and has a change of plea hearing Dec. 28.

The final defendant, Vitaly Zhuchkov, 18, of Wasilla, was assigned to the public defenders.

The sting was conducted via the Internet where officers set up a Web site with an undercover cop posing as a prostitute. It may well have been the first operation of its kind in the Valley.

All 10 defendants, Turney said, set up a rendezvous with the officer online and weren’t arrested until they showed up at the meeting place. If the e-mails and comment board postings received at the Frontiersman were any indication, the operation caused a stir, eliciting varied opinions. Some applauded the officers. Many more expressed negative opinions of the operation. Still others were upset that the defendants’ names were publicized.