SCOTTSDALE, AZ — A man arrested in child sex crime operation where investigators posed as minors now faces charges for sex crimes against actual minors.
In court documents filed by the Arizona Attorney General, 24-year-old Dakota Lee Rainey has been charged with multiple counts of luring a minor for sex and sexual conduct with a minor.
Rainey was previously arrested on February 1, 2019, as part of "Operation No Mulligans." In this investigation, Mesa police worked with officers and undercover detectives with Tempe police and Homeland Security Investigations to place ads on websites commonly sought out by suspects looking for illegal sex acts.
Rainey was arrested along with 16 other suspects ranging in age from 23 to 46 years old. They reportedly solicited or worked out deals for sex acts with a person they believed was a 14-year-old boy.
As they investigated further into Rainey, investigators discovered Rainey had an on-going sexual relationship with a 17-year-old he met on the dating app Grindr.
In checking Rainey's Snapchat account, investigators allegedly found over 2,500 messages, most of which were sexually explicit that involved sexual contact with numerous male subjects.
"Rainey disclosed additional sexual contacts with other juveniles males aged 13-17," according to court records. Many of the sexual encounters occurred at Rainey's home near Hayden and McDowell roads and involved smoking marijuana with the victim as a "pregame."
Rainey was arrested on the additional charges on May 1 and is being held on a $100,000 bond.
