Spanaway Man Arrested on Child Porn Charges

A cyber tip received through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) led to an arrest of two individuals involved in sex crimes and distributing and producing child pornography, according to the Washington State Patrol Missing and Exploited Children’s Task Force (MECTF).

MECTF detectives discovered an adult female and male had engaged in the trading of sexually explicit messages with images involving underage children, one of which believed to be the infant son of the female suspect. The online exchanges began on a social networking website and continued with text messaging. The online conversation also included information the female had engaged in sexual acts involving her infant son. 

Detectives traced the female to a residence in the city of Montesano. With the assistance of officers from the Montesano Police Department, Myriah L. Moreland, 20, was arrested late Wednesday afternoon without incident and booked into the Grays Harbor County Jail. She is facing charges of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor and Possession/Distribution of Child Pornography and is currently being held on $20,000 bail. Additional charges are pending.  Detectives are in the process of serving search warrants for computer devices believed to contain additional images of child pornography.

On Thursday, the male suspect was traced to a residence in Spanaway where Christopher M. Dupea, 20, was arrested without incident and booked into the Pierce County Jail on charges of Possession/Distribution of Child Pornography and is currently being held on no bail. Search warrants are pending on the suspect’s computer devices, which are also believed to contain child pornography images. Additional charges are possible as the investigation continues.

The 6 month old infant was placed into the custody of Child Protective Services.