A 58-year-old Clallam County resident is in custody facing felony charges related to the possession of explicit material depicting minors.
The man faces five counts of first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, along with one count of second-degree possession of the same.
The investigation originated from a tip routed through the Internet Crimes Against Children task force to the Port Angeles Police Department. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had forwarded the initial information.
Detective Corporal Ordona of the Port Angeles Police Department initiated the investigation and executed a search warrant at the subject's residence to gather digital evidence. Forensic analysis of the seized devices provided probable cause for the arrest. The subject was booked into the Clallam County Jail on March 16, with state prosecutors filing the case the following day.
Court records indicate the subject has previously been the subject of petitions filed in local courts. In April 2015, a petition for a Domestic Violence Protection Order was filed against him, supported by two confidential reports submitted to the court. The petition was denied on May 8, 2015, resulting in dismissal without a trial.
A similar petition for a Domestic Violence Protection Order was filed in September 2016. Temporary protection orders were repeatedly issued over the course of more than a year. The case was ultimately dismissed on December 8, 2017.
Both of these petitions were denied by then-Commissioner Brent Basden.
Judicial Conduct Review
The dismissal of these petitions aligns with a pattern of judicial decisions involving Basden that have drawn scrutiny. The Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct has opened an investigation regarding his past rulings.
Basden has previously stated from the bench that he "has no way of knowing what he's not told" regarding courtroom proceedings. In this instance, petitions and confidential reports were provided to the court.
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