James Michael McHaney, who until his arrest on Friday had worked as a D.C. scheduler for Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, was arrested in a sex sting on Friday after arranging a sexual liaison with an underage teen boy, The Smoking Gun reported:
“James McHaney, 28, was nabbed by FBI agents after he arranged the afternoon liaison via a ‘cooperating witness' working with investigators. According to the below felony complaint and an accompanying statement of facts filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the CW and McHaney were conversing online Friday afternoon when the CW asked whether McHaney was interested in engaging in anal sex with a 13-year-old boy. ‘I'll be there,' McHaney allegedly replied. He later asked for a photo of the child with whom he and the CW would have sex and whether the boy had ‘any pubes.' When told no, McHaney allegedly replied, ‘That's hot.' McHaney was nabbed in the lobby of an unnamed ‘predetermined location,' where he had arranged to meet CW.”
The AP reports: “McHaney, who appeared in federal court Saturday, was being held without bond pending a court hearing Wednesday, said Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia.”
Cantwell's office also released a statement: “Late Friday afternoon the FBI informed our office that a Senate employee was arrested. The employee was immediately fired. Our office has and will continue to fully cooperate with the ongoing federal criminal investigation. Senator Cantwell has zero tolerance for crimes against children.”
The Seattle Times reports: “Before joining Cantwell's office, McHaney worked for the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign and before that as an aide to former U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Ohio.”
