PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man will learn Tuesday whether he will face charges after police say he posted someone else’s photos of a Port Angeles woman and man engaged in sex acts to a Facebook page and possessed an illegal sawed-off shotgun.
Adam Chamberlin, 43, was arrested Thursday afternoon. He was released on his own recognizance Friday afternoon following his initial appearance in Clallam County Superior Court before Judge Christopher Melly.
The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office currently is considering filing charges against Chamberlin, which would be done during his next day in court at 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to court documents.
Charges under consideration are disclosing intimate images, a gross misdemeanor, and a felony firearms violation.
Chamberlin was the creator and administrator of the Facebook group Clallam County Criminal Watch 2, “a resource to enable concerned citizens to identify active criminals and drug dealers on the peninsula by sight and name,” Chamberlin posted to a GoFundMe page in September 2015.
The Facebook page was deactivated Wednesday, according to an arrest report obtained from the Port Angeles Police Department.
Only those with invitations could view the page before it was deactivated, police said.
The woman, who is not being named by the Peninsula Daily News because she is an alleged victim, told police she has never personally met Chamberlin, according to the narrative. However, she said she knows who he is through the Clallam County Criminal Watch 2 Facebook group and that he has been harassing her and a male friend — also in the illicit photographs posted online — for the last year.
Probe’s start
An investigation concerning the illicit photographs began Wednesday evening when Officer Whitney Fairbanks was dispatched to a harassment phone detail, according to the arrest report, after two people contacted Peninsula Communications dispatch to report there were naked pictures of a Port Angeles man and woman posted on the Clallam County Criminal Watch 2 Facebook group page.
One member of the reporting party — the alleged female victim’s sister — was able to see the photos because she was a member of the closed group, according to the narrative, and took a screenshot of the page to share with police.
In the photos, the woman’s breasts are blurred out, as are the man’s genitalia, according to the narrative.
One of the photos included a caption by Chamberlin stating, “One of the drawbacks of searching through junkie phones is that sometimes you see things that you never wanted to see,” according to the narrative.
The captions included the name of the alleged female victim.
A comment thread attached to one of the photos included a comment from Chamberlin to a group member saying he would forward her the uncensored versions of the photos, according to the narrative.
Fairbanks contacted the alleged female victim — who is currently jailed on a probation violation for the original conviction of possession of about 0.5 grams of heroin, according to court documents — for a statement Wednesday.
Fairbanks showed the woman the Facebook posts, and she confirmed they were of her and a male friend, according to the narrative.
Woman’s cellphone
She said the photos came from a cellphone that she had lost in July, adding the phone should have been password-protected and that Chamberlin did not have permission to access its contents or share her personal photos, according to the narrative.
Fairbanks attempted to meet with Chamberlin on Wednesday but was unable to do so until Thursday, when Chamberlin agreed to come to the police station.
Chamberlin said people frequently give him cellphones and memory cards by leaving them in his mailbox, according to the narrative, and that he had received a bag of memory cards several months ago containing the photos of the victims.
Chamberlin said he had edited the photos by adding white boxes to cover their breasts and genitalia, according to the narrative.
Chamberlin also said he had never had the woman’s phone and that he wasn’t a thief.
“When I asked Chamberlin why he posted the photos on Facebook, he stated he wanted to speak to an attorney,” Fairbanks said.
“I did not ask him any further questions,” she said, and she then placed Chamberlin under arrest.
Search warrant granted
Fairbanks later applied for and received a search warrant to enter Chamberlin’s home at 614 S. Francis St. and search for evidence.
During the search, a second officer reportedly found an illegally modified shotgun with an 11.5-inch barrel. Under the National Firearms Act, it is illegal for a private citizen to possess a sawed-off modern smokeless powder shotgun with a barrel length shorter than 18 inches.
The shotgun was seized and placed into evidence.
Officers also found several cellphones including a white Samsung Galaxy Note 2 tagged with the names of the alleged male and female victims whose photos were posted online, according to the narrative.
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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at cmcdaniel@ peninsuladailynews.com.