A sailor at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station is among six men arrested during an online child exploitation sting carried out by Skagit County law enforcement.

Matthew Beltran, 37, of Stanwood, allegedly offered a 14-year-old girl he met on Craigslist a $27 Marshalls gift card in exchange for meeting him and having sex, according to report by a detective with the Mount Vernon Police Department.

The child, however, was actually a detective with the Skagit County Multi-Agency Response Team, which is known as SMART.

SMART has been conducting online investigations into adults attempting to have sex with minors.

A prosecutor filed charges against Beltran in Skagit County Superior Court last week.

Beltran is charged with commercial sexual abuse of a minor, communication with a minor for immoral purposes and attempted rape of a child in the third degree.

A detective posing as a child online contacted a poster, later identified as Beltran, by responding to a Craigslist ad offering a massage to a “young lady,” according to the police report.

The detective and Beltran allegedly engaged in a lengthy email conversation, discussing sex in graphic detail, the report said. The detective reportedly claimed to be a 14-year-old child.

At one point, Beltran asked the faux child if she would engage in anal sex, according to the report.

Beltran then asked to meet the girl at a park in Mount Vernon on Sept. 24. Surveillance teams watched as Beltran showed up, walked around the park and sat in his car for about 45 minutes, the report said. Beltran was arrested as he drove away.

During a recorded interview, police allege that Beltran admitted that he thought he was communicating with a 14- or 15-year-old girl and he brought the gift card as payment for sex, according to the report.

The SMART team received 140 solicitations on three fake profiles in just two weeks.

Another suspect arrested in the sting operation was an off-duty corrections deputy from Whatcom County who brought two young children to meet someone he allegedly thought was a 14-year-old prostitute.

Last year, Anacortes police conducted a similar online sting and arrested Javonny Natereno, who was a sailor at NAS Whidbey, for soliciting a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl, records said.