In 2011, 43-year-old Army veteran Edwin "Trey" Gennette lived just outside Pensacola, Florida, with a pet possum and a talking Ford Mustang. One warm June evening, he began poking around the "Casual Encounters" section of Craigslist, where he found an ad promising a novel erotic situation. "2 sisters seeking a man that handle both [of] us," it said. "We are ready for a hot night, are you?"

He was. But when he e-mailed the address in the ad, Gennette received a quick response from a woman named Amber, making clear that only one of the sisters was 19. "My lil sis is in town visiting me for the summer," wrote Amber. "She is 14, you ok with that?"

"Well I think she is a bit young, lol but depends on what you have in mind," Gennette wrote back. He sent Amber a photo of himself with his pet possum. Amber sent back a photo showing two young women on a boat. Gennette and Amber chatted for a while over e-mail, sharing weekend plans. Gennette suggested the sisters come over to see the possum, which was recovering from veterinary surgery to her "female parts." He offered to give the two girls a ride in his Mustang.

But the older sister made clear that "we host only," and she kept pushing Gennette for details of what exactly he might want to do with younger sister Erin.

Gennette: hmmm, maybe you can twist my arm, lol I have some things I need to do tomorrow am, and since you cant come here......but I can be pursuaded, lol Amber: pursuaded???? how do u want us to do that? so what do u want to do with us Gennette: well im sure you could figure something out on how to pursuade me, im up for anything dear Amber: we like a man that will tell us want he wants to do, not us doing all the work Gennette: oh I wouldn't let you do all the work, duh, lol but while driving my car, i d have to focus on the road for sure, when do you want to get together? Amber: do u realize that its me and my lil sis

Gennette appeared reticent about actually following through, talking about needing "persuasion" and wanting to "keep things clean so to speak, lol" when it came to the little sister. But Amber continued to press, asking:

Amber: what r u going to do to us Gennette: things that are pleasurable, believe me, lol Amber: like what???? we like details? and love to hear, plus i need to prep her. u have to make sure you are gentle with her and dont hurt her Gennette: prep her? what does that consist of? lol I have to show the details but they will be satisfactory, promise … now I have one cute underage sister and another young cute of age sister, is this all consensual? im assuming yes, but I am still curious what you mean by prepping her Amber: u r right. one underage sis, and one of age sis. everything is consensual. we r getting horny, u? we like to hear it, let us know what u r going to do to us

Despite the obvious warning signs, Gennette continued the conversation and appeared to come around to the idea of sexual activity with Erin—but the exact nature of this activity remained vague. Gennette told Amber that he would show her special attention "with my tongue," and Amber pressed yet again for information about "lil sis. she thinks u r leaving her out. :(" Gennette told Amber not to worry because "nobody gets left out."

Two nights after responding to Amber's ad, Gennette agreed to meet the sisters at their home. But he refused to promise anything more explicit than "a lot of smiles," so Amber herself got more explicit—and also suggested that Gennette was a coward.

"my lil sis just said that she does not want u to come over until she knows what u want to do with her," Amber wrote. "i have to agree with her, bc i need to make sure she does not get hurt. we really want this to go down, but it just seems like u r scared. we r so ready for u. u would have to bring rubbers for her, bc i cant have my 14yo baby sis pregers."

At 6pm, Gennette responded, "I will bring those," and he promised to be "easy and gentle and you can help me." He also noted that the whole situation was "almost hard to believe."

Amber then agreed that he could come over and provided an address, so Gennette hopped into his gray Mustang to make the 30-minute drive. When he arrived, he walked up to the house and knocked. Burly policemen in bulletproof vests burst out of the door, dragged Gennette back inside the house, and forced him to the ground. When he arose, he was in handcuffs—and charged as a sex offender. There had been no Amber and no Erin.

Held on a $300,000 bond, Gennette spent three weeks in jail before he came up with the bond. While there, his name appeared repeatedly in local accounts about the police sting—dubbed Operation Blue Shepherd—that had caught him and 24 others. According to a news account at the time, "An officer said most of the suspects admitted they were coming inside for sex. One said he was actually coming to chastise the parents. Another said he was coming to play Dungeons and Dragons." Police released surveillance video of the arrests to the media.

"We obviously feel the operation was very successful," Pensacola Police Chief Chip Simmons told the media. "That's bittersweet, though. It's successful that we got 25 people off the street, but I'm also disappointed there were 25 people willing to do this type of an act."

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