Seattle man pleads not guilty for child sex abuse binders

Seattle child porn suspect faces judge

A man accused of dumping over a dozen binders full of child pornography found at a dumpster near a Seattle apartment faced a judge on Monday.

SEATTLE - For the first time, we’re getting a look at the moment officers found binders filled with photos containing child sexual abuse material in a dumpster in Lower Queen Anne last month.

FOX 13 obtained body camera footage showing an officer climbing into one of the dumpsters. They were mindful not to capture the graphic images on their cameras, but you can hear them as find those photos.

Seattle police officers are alerted to criminal material in a Lower Queen Anne dumpster.

"Oh my gosh dude they’re everywhere," one of the officers can be heard saying. "These are children for purchase."

The backstory:

In total, 14 binders were found. "This is starting to make me think this came out of someone’s apartment here," an officer can also be heard saying on the body camera video.

Seattle Police arrested Arthur Charles Rickard in connection with possessing the child sex abuse material.

"This is a defendant who is engaging in the market of misery of sexually abused children," Douglas Wagoner, Director of Legislative and Public Affairs for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

Dig deeper:

On Monday, the 63-year-old appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. His attorney asked the judge for electronic home detention. They said he has severe health issues, like lung disease and is supposed to be on oxygen.

"Nothing has occurred at any point after the year of 1983, that’s over 40 years ago," Rickard’s attorney said in court.

Two homeless people were "looking into dumpsters for anything that appeared valuable, when they found a notebook," according to court records. "When they opened it up, they saw photos of what was obviously children, engaged in sexually explicit conduct." Police traced the binders back to Rickard. He admitted to recently throwing them away. According to court documents.

"I understand Mr. Rickard has no criminal history, but during the course of this investigation apparently the allegations are that he admitted to abusing up to 50 children, I know he stated that stopped in the 80’s, but obviously the police then found material that allegedly recently disposed of," Judge Brian Mcdonald said.

The judge denied Rickard’s request for electronic home detention and kept bail at $50,000 dollars.

"The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, under our elected prosecutor Leesa Manion takes child sex abuse cases extraordinarily seriously," Wagoner said. He told FOX 13, this case comes as their office is fighting for SB 5105 which concerns child sex abuse and depictions of children and would extend the statute of limitations from three years to 10 years. "It also includes non-identifiable minors in the fabricated images statute so no longer would the child have to be identified for it to be considered child sex abuse material if it’s being generated through AI," Wagoner said. The bill has been referred to the appropriations committee.

If Rickard does make bail, the judge has ruled that he has no contact with children. His trial is scheduled for May 27th.

The Source: Information for this article comes from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting.