Court revokes bail for officer accused in child porn case

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 2, 2026

An Arlington police officer accused of possessing child pornography is back in jail.

Dustin Bartlett was arrested last week after hard drives containing child porn were found inside a closet at his Camano Island home, according to court documents. He is now on administrative leave from the department.

Prosecutors charged Bartlett in Island County Superior Court May 22 with three counts of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree and one count of assault in the fourth degree, domestic violence.

If convicted of the charges against him, Bartlett faces a standard sentencing range of 46 to 61 months in prison.

During his preliminary hearing on May 20, Judge Carolyn Cliff set Bartlett’s bail at $100,000 and ordered him not to go to his Panoramic Drive home or have contact with his girlfriend, a witness in the case. He posted bail and was released.

But on May 29, deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report that Bartlett was at the home in violation of the no-contact order. He was located hiding inside the residence, according to a sheriff’s office statement.

Deputies arrested Bartlett on suspicion of violating the order, which is a gross misdemeanor. He made a preliminary appearance telephonically in court over the weekend on the charge.

Cliff, who was handling the weekend hearings, set bail on the new charge at $50,000. In addition, she revoked bail on the child porn case because he allegedly violated the conditions of release.

In the child porn case, Bartlett’s live-in girlfriend allegedly told investigators she saw him looking at child pornography on his computer and called police, according to a detective’s report. She reported that he pushed her away.

Deputies did not initially arrest Bartlett. Four days later, however, the woman again contacted deputies and asked them to respond to the home. She said she searched a walk-in closet and found a small knob that appeared to be out of place on a rack where he hung his bulletproof vest. She pulled the knob and found the two hard drives, the report states.

A detective reviewed the folders on the hard drive and found 80 files containing child pornography, including videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, according to the police report.