Seattle man arrested for child porn after binders found in trash

Seattle man arrested for child porn after 14 binders found in dumpster

Seattle police arrested a 63-year-old man after more than a dozen binders containing explicit images of children were found in a dumpster in Queen Anne.

SEATTLE - A 63-year-old Seattle man was arrested last week, after police discovered more than a dozen of his binders containing decades' worth of child pornography.

According to police records and charging documents obtained by FOX 13 Seattle, on March 3, two homeless people found several binders left in a dumpster near Queen Anne Ave N and John St. They looked through it and saw child sex abuse material, so they immediately called 911 to report it.

Police arrived and sifted through the garbage, collecting 14 binders and several loose papers containing child sex abuse material, all of which was printed out and "meticulously catalogued," authorities say. The images and material appeared to be printed from a computer with dates ranging between 1998–2013.

Additionally, an officer found a doctor's note mixed with the binders addressed to Arthur Charles Rickard.

Binders of pornography left in a Seattle dumpster

Dig deeper:

Police detectives processed the evidence and on March 21, served a search warrant at 63-year-old Rickard's apartment and took him into custody.

During his police interview, Rickard admitted he had recently thrown the binders away. Authorities say that Rickard also confessed to molesting "approximately 50 children" prior to his report and arrest in 1983, and had "not molested any other children since then." He also told detectives that "all of his sexual contact he had in his life was with children."

Rickard told police he began watching and printing child sex abuse material in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Detectives found even more child sex abuse material on Rickard's computer and printed out in boxes around his apartment.

Rickard was arrested for first- and second-degree possession of child pornography.

What's next:

He is currently being held on $50,000 bail, based on his alleged likelihood to reoffend. He has been ordered to have no contact with children or use the internet without surveillance.

The King County Prosecutor's Office found that Rickard was indeed arrested in 1983 for two counts of sexual assault in Montana, but was not charged.

The Source: Information in this story comes from the Seattle Police Department and charging documents from the King County Superior Court.