Police online prostitution ad leads to Bend man’s arrest

An online ad placed by undercover officers Monday during a human trafficking awareness training event in Central Oregon led to the arrest of a 55-year-old Bend man on charges of prostitution and purchasing sex with a minor.

The Portland Police Bureau’s Sex Trafficking Unit and a Multnomah County sheriff’s sergeant whose work focuses on human trafficking had placed the ad on a website ” designed to facilitate human trafficking, ” during a training session attended by agencies from around the state, Bend police Lt. Juli McConkey said.

Bend police were made aware that as a result of the ad, Daniel Vance Packman, 55, ” had made arrangements to meet two females at a local hotel, ” McConkey said in a news release, adding, ” One of the females was purported to be 17 years old. ” The other was said to be a 19-year-old woman, she added.

Police followed up on the information and contacted Packman at the agreed-upon location, McConkey said, locating evidence corroborating Packman’s involvement.

Packman was arrested and taken to the Deschutes County Jail on two counts of prostitution and one count of purchasing sex with a minor, McConkey said.

He was booked into the jail around 2:45 p.m. and released on his own recognizance around 4:30 p.m., a jail officer said.