In seemingly unrelated incidents, two local men were recently arrested in child pornography cases.
The first was Aaron Myers, 46, who until his arrest was a Black Diamond Elementary school psychologist. He has since resigned from his position, the Enumclaw School District confirmed.
Little information is available about Myers. Even though he was arrested by State Patrol in Bonney Lake and booked into the Pierce County Jail on Dec. 3, he has yet to be charged, and the investigation is ongoing as of Dec. 14.
Jessica McCartney, the school district’s public information officer, released the following statement to media:
“Enumclaw School District continues to remain first and foremost focused on providing its students with a safe learning environment where they may experience the greatest degree of success. The District is cooperating with law enforcement at this time.”
Anyone who has specific concerns can contact McCartney at 360-802-7109 or jessica_mccartney@enumclaw.wednet.edu.
The second man arrested was Brad Allan Norgate, 52, who was taken into custody by Black Diamond police on Dec. 7.
According to Officer Tim Crooker, the BDPD became aware of a potential child porn suspect on Nov. 23 when the department received two reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The reports, which were made by Google, indicated the internet protocol (IP) address of the suspect was located in Black Diamond.
On Dec. 7, Crooker — along with other BDPD officers, three detectives with the Coalition of Small Police Agencies in King County, two Seattle Police Department officers, and one Homeland Security agent — arrived at Norgate’s home at approximately 8:30 a.m. for the arrest.
After being taken to the police department, Norgate told officers he would visit the website 4chan to view child pornography, but since posts on 4chan are temporary, he would save the photos to his Google Drive.
Norgate was then brought back to his residence for officers to access his secure hard drive. At first, Norgate declined to give officers the code for the hard drive, but after officers stated “that several hundred photographs” of child porn had already been recovered from his computer, he relented, and also told officers that there were additional images on his office computer.
Norgate was officially charged Dec. 9 with two charges of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, one in the first degree and another in the second. According to the King County Prosecuting Office, his arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 17 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent; he is “expected to enter a plea.”
INCREASES IN CHILD PORN CASES
According to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura Harmon, who handles internet crimes against children for the King County Prosecuting Office, there has been a sizeable increase in child pornography cases in this past year.
Norgate’s case marks King County’s 64th child pornography case this year (cases include possession, distribution, production, and viewing); last year, KCPAO filed 48 cases.
“We’ve seen an uptick in filed cases so far this year. I know that all the investigating agencies that I work with have seen a huge spike in cases during COVID,” Harmon said in a Zoom meeting on the topic on Dec. 7. “There has been a huge increase in the trading of these pictures online between offenders and uploading them to public websites and forums where they are seen and visible.”
Harmon added that it appears the spike in these cases are stemming from the fact that people are home more often due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s created a perfect storm for offenders to seek out children, offenders to seek out other offenders,” she continued. “The numbers that haven’t yet come to our office are also looming large.”
