A soldier based at Fort Lewis was charged today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma with sex trafficking of a child and attempted sex trafficking of a child, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Sgt. Sterling Hospedales, 26, was scheduled to make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court this afternoon. Hospedales has been held in the Pierce County Jail since his arrest on April 14.

According to a U.S. Attorney's Office news release:

The investigation began on April 13, when Lakewood police were alerted to a juvenile runaway from the Seattle area who was posting ads on Craigslist indicating she was engaged in prostitution. Investigators from the Innocence Lost Task Force, a federal task force targeting sex trafficking of children, located and interviewed the girl and a second juvenile.

The first juvenile ultimately admitted that she worked as a prostitute out of an apartment Hospedales had obtained for her, and that Hospedales had helped her post the advertisements for prostitution on Craigslist. She also provided the money she earned from prostituting to Hospedales, according to the news release.

The second juvenile had flown to the area from Wyoming with a plane ticket paid for by Hospedales.The second girl stated that she had only been in town a week, and had taken pictures to post on Craigslist for prostitution purposes, but had not started earning money.

Hospedales was involved in recruiting the Wyoming girl and posting the advertisements on Craigslist, prosecutors allege. Hospedales was arrested as he left the Lakewood apartment he had rented for the juveniles.

The news release did not give the ages of the girls involved.