Local Child Porn Suspect Pleads Guilty Then Collapses in Courtroom
A Kennewick man accused of child porn has pleaded guilty to five charges and will be behind bars for anywhere from 87 to 116 months as part of his plea.
As jail officers were preparing to take him away, he passed out, collapsing in the courtroom.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS IN BENTON COUNTY COURT?
Daniel Bunch, who worked at and is a family member of the Bunch Finnigan appliance store family (but was not one of the owners) was first investigated in 2019 on allegations of child porn, suspected dating back to 2017.
After a lengthy investigation leading up to his trial this week, he ended up pleading guilty. As jail officers were preparing to take him away, he passed out, collapsing in the courtroom.
WHAT DID HE PLEAD GUILTY TO?
Bunch plead guilty to three counts of dealing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the 1st Degree. He also entered guilty on two counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the 1st Degree.
WHAT LED TO ARREST AND INVESTIGATION?
A worker at the Bunch Finnigan store reportedly stumbled across Bunch's concealed laptop and an external 3 terabyte hard drive that was 99 percent full of child porn. Other images and videos were discovered during a subsequent police search. Since his arrest in 2019, he's been required to wear a monitoring device 24-7, had to surrender his passport, could not have any contact with children and other restrictions leading up to his trial.
Kennewick Police found in their investigation that three distinct IP addresses were used to download the porn, they were reportedly registered through Charter and Bunch Finnigan. No evidence was uncovered implicating the store owners or other family members.
Prosecutors, according to KEPR-CBS TV are seeking the higher end of the sentencing range for Bunch.
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