Trial scheduled June 29 in child pornography case of Forks man

PORT ANGELES — A Forks man charged with possessing more than 270,000 images of child pornography pleaded not guilty to multiple charges Friday.

William Otis Crippen, 57, faces a June 29 trial in Clallam County Superior Court.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin told Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer that the trial would take a full week.

Crippen is charged with five counts of first-degree possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and seven counts of second-degree possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Responded to alarm

Forks police say they found the images at Crippen’s house while responding to an alarm Feb. 1.

An officer spotted several stacks of pictures that he believed may have been child pornography, according to the arrest report.

Officers obtained search warrants Feb. 8 and said they seized 91,602 printed and CD images of child pornography along with two computers.

A state crime lab determined that the computers contained about 180,000 images of child pornography, police said.

Crippen was arrested March 13 and was released from the Clallam County jail on his own recognizance March 16.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 8½ years in prison, county Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg has said.

A status hearing is set for May 21.

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