A 27-year-old Hoquiam man has been arrested on four counts of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Peter Steven Gilbert Mulder made his preliminary court appearance Aug. 24, was advised of the charges and released on his own recognizance. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 31.
Mulder was listed on the Hoquiam School District website as a bus driver. Superintendent Mike Villarreal told The Daily World Mulder was a substitute bus driver who would fill in when needed and worked a total of five hours in February 2020 for the district.
Mulder also drove school bus for the Aberdeen School District. Superintendent Alicia Henderson sent a letter to parents Aug. 26 that read, in part, that the district had “learned one of our bus drivers has been criminally charged in a child pornography case,” and that letter had been sent to parents on Mulder’s assigned bus route.
Henderson said the school district has no reason to believe any illegal activity occurred on the bus while children were on board, but if any parents have concerns they should contact Detective Jeremy Mitchell at the Hoquiam Police Department at 360-532-0892.
On Jan. 7, Hoquiam Police were tipped by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating two images screened as child pornography had been uploaded in late November to an IP address in Hoquiam, according to court documents. Both reportedly show girls that appear to be under the age of 10 in sexual situations.
Hoquiam investigators were able to get information via a warrant that linked the IP address to Mulder. A search warrant was obtained and served March 30, at which time Mulder was advised he was under arrest for possession of child pornography and a warrant had been issued to serve his home on Aberdeen Avenue.
According to court documents, Mulder cooperated and provided investigators with electronic devices and his pass codes. After giving permission for the devices to be searched while being interviewed at the Hoquiam Police station, investigators found “about a hundred photographs that appear to be taken from Snapchat and depicted young teenage girls.” More images were found on Mulder’s phone.
The devices were forensically searched by the Washington State Patrol High Tech Crimes Unit. That investigation was complete May 11. Investigators “found that there were over 500 images and videos of nude females,” according to court documents. “A large portion of them were young pre-pubescent teenage girls in sex acts.”
In all, Hoquiam Police investigators found “a dozen or more” images of pre-pubescent nude girls “engaged in sex acts,” according to court documents.
