Whatcom County man reportedly found to possess nearly 250 child porn photos and videos
A Whatcom County man was arrested after law enforcement reportedly found he had nearly 250 images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit activity in a digital collection.
The Bellingham Police Department booked Jon Thomas Lakey, 46 of Blaine, into Whatcom County Jail Wednesday, Nov. 3, on suspicion of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Jail records show he was released later Wednesday on $10,000 bail.
According to Whatcom County Superior Court documents:
▪ On Oct. 24, 2019, Homeland Security Investigations Blaine received a CyberTip report from the Seattle Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force after employees of Apple Inc. reported that a user had uploaded several images of suspected child pornography using an iPhone. The user was identified as Lakey.
▪ On Nov. 5, 2019, Homeland Security reviewed the images from the tip and determined they were suspected child pornography.
▪ On Jan. 17, 2020, Homeland Security was granted search warrants for Lakey’s residence in Blaine and to his Apple iCloud account. That warrant was served on Jan. 27, 2020. Multiple electronics and media were seized as evidence and sent to a Homeland Security forensic analyst.
▪ During the search, agents interviewed Lakey, who reportedly said that he had viewed child pornography briefly while searching the dark web on one occasion, but he denied downloading images and saving them to a collection.
▪ Forensic analysis of the items seized found 245 images depicting children engaged in sexually explicit activity. Some of the children in the images were believed to be as young as 4 years old.
▪ Images containing child abuse material seized from Lakey’s electronic media devices were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which checked the images against the Child Recognition Identification System and revealed there were 50 images and videos containing identified child victims.
Court records show Lakey is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 19.
Resources
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault, you can contact the following local resources for free, confidential support:
▪ Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.
▪ Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.
▪ Tl’ils Ta’á’altha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/
▪ Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.
▪ WWU Consultation and Sexual Assault Support Survivor Advocacy Services: 360-650-3700 or wp.wwu.edu/sexualviolence/.
▪ Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org.
