RAPE RAP

Navy Lt. Commander Charged With Paying 14-Year-Old Boy for Sex

The teen had solicited gifts from older men on a hookup app, police said.

A Navy lieutenant commander has been arrested on charges he paid $200 to have sex with a 14-year-old boy he met on a hookup site called Sniffies. Lucas Martinez, 61, allegedly wore his Navy uniform in his profile photo on the app and used a Navy phone to call the boy after his cellphone number was blocked, Task & Purpose reported. Martinez, who is assigned to the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center Northwest in Washington State, is charged with third-degree rape of a child, commercial sexual abuse of a minor, and communication with a minor for immoral purposes. The alleged abuse came to light after the boy’s mother reported to police that her son received packages with sex toys and sexy costumes and then admitted he had posed as an 18-year-old online to solicit gifts from older men. She subsequently reported that Lucas was meeting with her son at their house when the teen was supposed to be at school. When he was arrested on Friday, Lucas allegedly told Anacortes Police: “I never slept with a minor, let alone rape.”