EVERETT — King County prosecutors charged a teacher at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett on Feb. 24 with possession of sexual depictions of minors. The teacher was fired following his arrest.
John Doty, a 32-year-old Seattle man admitted to detectives he used an online peer-to-peer sharing program to download pornography depicting minors and has been using such programs since he was 10 years old, according to court records.
“He said … it was the feeling of ‘oops, I did a crime,’” King County detective Chris Knudsen wrote in charging papers.
At the request of state prosecutors, Doty’s bail was set at $250,000.
“The defendant has no known criminal history but is a high school teacher who has now admitted to law enforcement he knowing collected this material and enjoyed the thrill of the crime each time,” Knudsen wrote.
Knudsen, using an online investigation tool on the online network, uncovered multiple illegal clips depicting rape and sexual exploitation of minors on Doty’s computer, according to the probable cause statement. The footage includes children of various ages, with Knudsen estimating the girls to be between infancy and 15 years old.
“He said that the content he watches generally isn’t with kids, but when the child porn files pop up he finds the content ‘interesting,’ although he also said that he finds it disgusting,” Knudsen wrote.
After police arrested Doty on Feb. 20, Archbishop Murphy High School, a private Catholic school, released a public statement.
“The King County Sheriff’s Department notified us on Thursday that Mr. John Doty was arrested,” wrote Jana James, an Archbishop Murphy High School spokesperson, in an email. “He was immediately placed on administrative leave and then subsequently terminated … based on the information we have been provided by law enforcement, the arrest is for misconduct unrelated to his employment.”
The school screens all employees through a background check, James added.
Doty’s arraignment is scheduled for March 10.
Aspen Anderson: 425-339-3192; aspen.anderson@heraldnet.com; X: @aspenwanderson.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
