Sheriff investigates sex photos

The Spokane Country Sheriff’s Office has cautioned that an investigation into a reported discovery of sexually explicit material found in a Medical Lake home will not likely be finished anytime soon.

“Because of the number of people who could potentially be involved, it could take some time,” deputy and department spokesman Mark Gregory said Nov. 20. “We don’t talk about active cases,” he added.According to a news release, on Nov. 11, 2017, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Spokane County Deputy Krystal Bitzer responded to a residence in Medical Lake regarding a possible sex crime. Bitzer was told a juvenile, who attends Medical Lake High School, was selling the log-on information to an Internet drive which reportedly contained sexually explicit pictures of female juveniles. 

In her investigation, Bitzer viewed several named folders on the drive that contained “selfie” type pictures of females she estimated to be 15 to 18 years old in named folders.Spokane County Sexual Assault Unit detectives were called to assist with the investigation and they believe the pictures are of females who live in West Spokane County and possibly do or did attend Medical Lake High School or other schools in the area. 

Officials at Medical Lake School District were notified of the investigation and are cooperating with investigators who are working to identify the suspect(s) involved in this incident as well as, learn the facts of what occurred.”With this being a police investigation and to protect the rights of all those involved we are not able to comment,” Medical Lake Schools Superintendent Tim Ames, wrote in an email.

As a juvenile, those charges could be for a myriad of things. Possession of child pornography is a felony, Gregory said, but the charges could also include distribution or “All kinds of things, depending on where the investigation leads,” he added.

It is that investigation Gregory is cautious about compromising. Some news sources will attain official court records and begin reporting. Items such as search warrants are nothing more than probably cause — and not definitive proof of innocence or guilt.

“What it does is basically tell not only the suspect, but victims and everyone else what we know and don’t know, what we believe or what we don’t believe,” Gregory said.Detectives are currently working to preserve evidence, prevent further dissemination of the photos and identify potential victims. Investigators will contact the parents of victims as soon as possible once they are identified.

“I don’t think we have any idea of how far pictures like that have spread,” Gregory said.

The Sheriff’s Office asks parents to take a few minutes to talk to school-age children and let them know any picture they send to a “friend,” a “boyfriend” or whomever, that once they hit send, they no longer control that image, meaning it could end up anywhere, viewed by anyone or everyone on the Internet. 

Distributing or possessing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct (even if consensual) is a felony.

And it does not need be sexual in nature to get someone in trouble, he said. A night out at a bar can lead to unexpected consequences.

“It doesn’t have to even be a bad picture,” Gregory said. “That’s the downfall of social media; people can more or less find out things you don’t want to have out there.”

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].