Moses Lake man pleads guilty to child porn
Thousands of files found
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man has pleaded guilty to possessing and trading thousands of pornographic images and videos depicting children.
Michael R. Walker, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree. Two additional charges were dropped during the plea agreement.
His sentencing hearing has been scheduled for mid-January, and he faces up to 102 months in prison, court documents show.
Walker was also arrested on separate charges in January for attempting to solicit videos and images from a girl he knew to be 11 years old and attempting to arrange a sexual encounter with her. This occurred after Walker was released pending an investigation into his devices to determine if they contained child pornography.
Walker admitted to police in January that he had requested sexually explicit images and video from an 11-year-old girl from the Soap Lake area, and that he had sent her sexually explicit images of himself. He pleaded guilty in June to communication with a minor for immoral purposes and was sentenced to 11 months in jail.
At the time, law enforcement noted in bail recommendations that Walker was the subject of a previous “ongoing, very significant, investigation into his possession, and dealing in depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit activity,” and advised Walker not be allowed free on bail. Walker had been the subject of 17 Cyber Tips from Google, and previous search warrants have resulted in thousands of known images and videos of child pornography, according to court documents.
In interviews with family members of the victim, police learned that Walker allegedly also sent friend requests to the victim’s older sister, mother and grandmother. The grandmother discovered her granddaughter was already Facebook friends with Walker, and learned that he had allegedly been sending the 11-year-old graphic sexual images.
The grandmother logged into the 11-year-old’s Facebook page and left it active. Before contacting law enforcement, she received two sexually explicit videos from Walker depicting himself.
The victim’s mother and older sister had previously communicated with Walker and sent him sexually explicit photos of other women from the internet. In an interview with law enforcement, they indicated that they had hoped to lure Walker to Soap Lake and were “willing to physically harm Walker at that time.”
Officers with the Moses Lake Police Department indicated that they were aware that Walker had reached out to other children across the state, attempting to befriend them and communicate over Facebook Messenger. Walker admitted to police that he had been collecting and trading child pornography for years, according to court documents.
Emry Dinman can be reached via email at edinman@columbiabasinherald.com.