Child porn on memory stick leads to prison for Oak Harbor man

A man who dropped a computer memory stick containing child pornography at a popular Oak Harbor park will be going to prison.

Anthony Harrold, a 25-year-old Oak Harbor resident, pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court July 28 to possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

As part of a plea bargain, the prosecution and defense will both recommend that the judge sentence Harrold to one year and one day in prison at a Sept. 15 sentencing hearing.

Harrold, wearing a T-shirt that showed his tattoos, appeared uncomfortable in court Monday. At the end, corrections deputies wearing rubber gloves took him into custody and escorted him to jail.

The case began when a man found a flash drive memory stick at Fort Nugent Park, May 12. The park and large playground are popular with children of all ages.

The man viewed the memory stick on his work computer and found child pornography, so he reported it to police.

A detective analyzed the device and found that it contained two movie files showing men having sexual contact with pre-teen girls. The girls are identified in the file names as an 11-year-old child named Hana and a 9-year-old child named Jenny.

It wasn’t too difficult for cops to figure out who dropped the memory stick. It also contained a voter registration application that was filled out with Harrold’s name as well as a scanned image of his Navy ID card.

When police came to his house, Harrold admitted that he got kiddy porn off the Internet.

Harrold, a member of the Navy, was a volunteer with a program called Drug Education for Youth, or DEFY, at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. In the program, he came in contact with children similar in age to some of the children in the pornography he viewed, the police report indicates.

You can reach News-Times reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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