EVERETT — A 32-year-old woman and 46-year-old man were arrested Wednesday after investigators uncovered evidence of child sexual abuse and bestiality involving their 4-year-old daughter, according to police.
Lake Stevens police, with help from the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), took the pair into custody at a Safeway on Highway 9 around 7:53 p.m. Wednesday. They were later booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
The arrest followed a Priority 1 CyberTip sent to the Seattle Police Department’s ICAC Unit on Wednesday morning from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip, originally reported by the messaging platform Kik, indicated child sexual abuse material was not only being shared — but produced — involving a young child in Lake Stevens, police said.
The woman admitted during a police interview to taking sexual images of her daughter, the probable cause affidavit said. The man reportedly denied knowing the material had been created but said it was “conceivable” the woman might have done so to sell the content, court documents said.
Investigators recovered multiple sexual depictions of the child, as well as video evidence involving the family’s dogs. Both suspects confessed to various crimes, including bestiality, according to a press release.
The mother is being held on investigation of dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, possession of such depictions, exploitation of a minor and first-degree animal cruelty with sexual motivation. The man is in custody for investigation of first-degree animal cruelty with sexual motivation. That might change as the investigation continues, the release said.
Authorities said the suspects were already known to child protective services, and the man had been contacted in the past over concerns for the safety of minors.
The child was found and taken to safety, police said.
Lt. Ben Morrison, commander of the Seattle Police ICAC Unit, credited the swift interagency effort — including help from Arlington, Bothell, Lake Stevens, Snohomish County, FBI and Homeland Security investigators — for preventing further harm, according to a press release.
“This was a swift and thorough response that exemplifies the collaborative nature of the WA State ICAC Task Force in its efforts to protect children,” Morrison said in a statement.
Aspen Anderson: 425-339-3192; aspen.anderson@heraldnet.com; X: @aspenwanderson.
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