Spanaway Man Arrested on Child Porn Charges

Authorities arrested a Spanaway man for possession/distribution of child pornography on Thursday, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Detectives from the Washington State Patrol Missing and Exploited Children’s Task Force (MECTF) began an investigation involving the production and distribution of child pornography from a cyber tip received through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). 

The tip traced back to Christopher M. Dupea, 20, who was arrested and is currently being held on no bail at the Pierce County Jail.

MECTF is a multi-agency task force within the WSP comprised of detectives from the WSP and the .  MECTF investigates and provides support to local agencies across the state in cases involving missing and abducted children and child exploitation/pornography.

MECTF detectives discovered that Dupea and an adult female had engaged in the trading of sexually explicit messages with images involving underage children, one of which believed to be the infant son of the female suspect.  The online exchanges began on a social networking website and continued with text messaging.  The online conversation also included information the female had engaged in sexual acts involving her 6-month-old son, who was placed into the custody of Child Protective Services.

Detectives traced the female to a residence in the city of Montesano. With the assistance of officers from the Montesano Police Department, Myriah L. Moreland, 20, was arrested late Wednesday afternoon without incident and booked into the Grays Harbor County Jail. 

She is facing charges of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor and Possession/Distribution of Child Pornography and is currently being held on $20,000 bail.  Additional charges are pending. Detectives are in the process of serving search warrants for computer devices believed to contain additional images of child pornography.

Search warrants are pending on the Dupea’s computer devices, which are also believed to contain child pornography images. Additional charges are possible as the investigation continues.