Lynden man caught with child porn while serving sentence for similar charge
A Lynden man pleaded guilty to three felonies related to the possession of child sexual abuse material on Monday after he was caught in possession of explicit photos of minors while serving a sentence on similar charges.
Anders Robert Erhart, 39, initially was arrested in March 2021 for viewing and possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He was sentenced to a year of home confinement in October 2024.
On Aug. 26, 2025, while on probation, the Department of Corrections learned that Erhart had disabled the monitoring system on his phone. According to court records, they seized several items from his home — including camera systems that could have been used secretly — that led detectives to believe Erhart was engaging in illegal acts of voyeurism.
Then, on Sept. 8, 2025, his mother contacted Erhart’s community corrections officer and told him that she found a laptop hidden beneath a carpet under Erhart’s bed.
When detectives searched the computer, they found many recently accessed files with names that indicated they contained child sexual abuse material. Probable cause was found to charge Erhart with 10 counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree on Oct. 10.
Erhart pleaded guilty to three amended felony charges related to the possession of child sexual abuse material in Whatcom County Superior Court on Monday.
The Department of Corrections will complete a pre-sentence investigation report prior to sentencing, which has a placeholder date of March 5. The prosecution and defense will ask the judge for an agreed recommended sentence of 77 months in prison followed by three years in community custody.