Blackwell Man Charged with Attempted Sexual Trafficking of a Child and Attempted Enticement of a Child

Washington Co., Mo. (KFMO) - Edward Henry Foster Jr., of Richwoods, has been charged by Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Jones with four counts of attempted child sex trafficking and seven counts of attempted enticement of a child for events that occurred between August 25, 2024 and October 29, 2024.

These charges were filed following a police report made by Houston, Texas-based group called Predator Poachers and the resulting investigation by the Washington County Sherriff’s Office.

The probable cause statements filed with the Associate Circuit Court of Washington County explains that beginning August 17, 2024, and continuing until October 29, 2024, Foster used Facebook Messenger to repeatedly attempt to sex traffic and entice a person he believed to be an 11-year-old Washington County girl. These attempts included Foster pressuring the victim to keep their relationship a secret, instructing the victim to identify him as her brother-in-law if questioned, and asking if the victim’s mother would be mad with her being “raped” by him. 

“Child sexual exploitation has no place in our County or our world,” said Jones. “I’m proud to say that my office will always take a hard line against predators through Project Millstone. I want to thank and congratulate the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the private citizens involved in Predator Poachers for their invaluable work bringing this case to us. Our deputies and detectives being able to partner with private citizens to 
neutralize predators, as they have in this case, really opens a lot of doors, especially given the constraints on law enforcement funding in our day and age.”

If you have any additional information about this case, contact the Washington County Sheriff’s Office or the Washington County Prosecutor's Office.