TACOMA, Wash. — A former teacher at Tenino Elementary School pleaded guilty Friday to possession of child pornography.
James Donald Mobley, 47, was arrested in January.
Under terms of a plea agreement, Mobley will undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation, will register as a sex offender and will undergo sexual deviancy treatment.
Both the prosecution and defense will recommend a four-year prison term when Mobley is sentenced on March 21, 2014.
The judge is not bound by the plea agreement and can impose a sentence up to 20 years in prison.
According to records filed in the case, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has been investigating an international company, Azovfilms.com, which distributed child pornography through mail and download to personal computers.
In May 2011, foreign law enforcement executed a search of the business and seized hundreds of child pornography DVDs and business records. An analysis of those records revealed that on multiple occasions between February 2009 and January 2011, Mobley purchased suspected child pornography from the company.
In a search of Mobley’s home, law enforcement seized a computer, external storage devices and DVDs of child pornography. On those items, authorities found 650 images and 45 videos of child pornography.
Mobley was arrested as part of "Project Spade," the investigation of Azovfilms.com. The Toronto-based website billed itself as a provider of "naturist films," but was really a distributor of child pornography.
The investigation, led in the United States by the Postal Inspection Service, has resulted in 386 children rescued from direct abuse and exploitation.
So far, Mobley is one of 348 people arrested worldwide as a result of the Spade investigation.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Tenino Police Department.
KIRO
