EVERETT — A former volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound is expected to be in court today to answer to child pornography charges.
Prosecutors allege that numerous sexually explicit videos involving children were found on James Waddell’s home computer. Waddell, 53, also is accused of sharing child pornography with other people through a peer-to-peer file-sharing website. He was charged this week with three counts of possessing child pornography and one count of dealing in pornographic materials involving minors.
Waddell came to the attention of Florida authorities in November during an undercover investigation that targeted people sharing online child pornography, according to charging documents. Investigators with the Washington State Patrol searched Waddell’s Lynnwood apartment in January and seized a computer, camera and photographs.
Waddell was arrested in March at his apartment and ordered held on $250,000 bail. He was released after posting bail.
In court papers Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Adam Cornell outlined Waddell’s involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound. Waddell was a volunteer with the mentoring program from 2002 to 2005. He was terminated for having unauthorized overnight stays with a boy, court papers say. He’d been matched with the boy in 2004, when the child was six. Waddell continued to see the boy after their relationship was terminated, Cornell wrote.
The boy is not named as a victim in the charges. Investigators allegedly found pictures of the boy in Waddell’s belongings.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Cornell said.
He plans to ask a judge to order Waddell to stay away from the boy and his family.
The boy told investigators that he had seen pictures of naked children on Waddell’s computer.
Officials with the mentoring program are aware of the charges and have been in contact with investigators, according to a statement from Patrick D’Amelio, president and chief executive of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound.
“We assure you that, as the nation’s premiere mentoring organization, child safety is our highest priority. We have zero tolerance for abuse,” D’Amelio wrote.
Volunteers and staff undergo screening and criminal background checks, he added. The kids and their parents are given personal safety awareness education.
Waddell allegedly sought a foster care license from the state after he was kicked out of the Big Brothers program. He didn’t tell state officials that he’d been terminated. His application was denied. An employee with the state Department of Social and Health Services concluded that Waddell was a liar, Cornell wrote. Waddell appealed the state’s decision, but the appeal was rejected in 2008.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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