A Port Angeles man, 39, has been charged with four felonies after investigators accused him of secretly photographing a 16-year-old girl in the shower and distributing explicit images of minors through the Kik messaging platform.
Clallam County prosecutors filed the charges in Superior Court on September 18 against a local man. The counts include sexual exploitation of a minor, first-degree voyeurism, second-degree dealing in depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and second-degree possession of those depictions.
Judge Simon Barnhart set bail at $250,000 during a September 16 preliminary appearance, a figure lower than the $500,000 requested by prosecutors. His arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday, September 25, following a conflict of interest reported by the public defender’s office at a September 23 hearing. Judge Barnhart appointed attorney William Payne to represent him.
The investigation began on September 15 after detectives received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children regarding an account on Kik, according to an arrest report filed by Clallam County sheriff’s Detective Nicholas Cannady. The tip included images and chat logs supplied by Media Lab/Kik. Investigators linked the account to the suspect through account information and photographs, the report states.
According to the report, a detective reviewing the material identified 24 digital images reported to have been sent to other Kik users. Among them were five images of a girl showering or exiting a shower and five of another girl appearing to change clothes in a bedroom. The material also contained clothed photographs and images of the suspect.
The report describes messages in which the account holder claimed sexual contact with a child. During a subsequent police interview, the suspect described the communications as "fantasy" and stated he had never acted on them, according to Cannady’s report.
Investigators obtained a search warrant from Barnhart and contacted the suspect at his Port Angeles residence at approximately 9:25 p.m. on September 15. Cannady wrote that he advised the suspect of his rights, seized his phone, and conducted a recorded interview.
According to Cannady’s account of the interview, the suspect identified the girl in the shower photographs, whom the report lists as 16, and said the family was unaware of the images. The suspect stated the photographs were taken with his phone about a month earlier, on two separate occasions, the detective wrote.
Cannady wrote that he found a window between the bedroom and bathroom consistent with the shower photographs supplied in the tip. The suspect also identified the girl pictured changing clothes, according to the report. Investigators determined she was 17 at the time of the investigation; the suspect said those photographs were several years old.
Detectives seized additional electronic and data-storage devices from the residence. Cannady reported that the suspect provided his phone passcode and computer login information, and that investigators began making a forensic copy of the phone’s contents.
The charging document alleges the four offenses occurred between August 16 and September 13, 2026. The sexual exploitation count alleges the suspect knowingly caused a minor to be photographed without her awareness in images depicting sexually explicit conduct. The voyeurism count alleges he viewed, photographed or filmed a girl without her knowledge and consent under circumstances in which she had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
A court order issued on September 16 prohibits a local defendant from possessing firearms or other lethal weapons and restricts his travel to within Washington state boundaries. The ruling further bars him from any form of contact or communication with individuals under the age of 18, a restriction that includes his own biological offspring. In addition to the primary release conditions, the judge entered distinct no-contact orders designed to protect three specific minors.