A Mill Creek man is under investigation by the FBI for child pornography after a tree house was found in the Snoqualmie National Forest with child pornography hanging on the walls inside.
The unauthorized tree house is located off the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River and was reported by an employee of the Department of Natural Resources, according to court documents.
A DNR worker took a couple of the photographs off the wall to show law enforcement and called the King County Sheriff's Office.
The DNR employee took a detective to the tree house, which was described in court documents as "an elaborate tree house that resembled a fairy or gingerbread house." The tree house was about 8 feet off the ground with a porch surrounding it.
Investigators say that inside the tree house they found photographs of naked young girls framed on the walls. There was also a bed, food, supplies, a book and an electronic keyboard.
They found an envelope with more pornographic images.
The King County Sheriff's Office handed the case over to the FBI to investigate.
The FBI searched the cabin in April 2017 and collected items to test for fingerprints and DNA to find out who built the cabin.
They took construction photos, smoking material, bedding, glasses, photos of girls, bags of batteries and glass from the photographs in frames.
They sent the items to the FBI laboratory in Quantico.
Federal investigators also talked to a Search and Rescue volunteer who said he had seen an SUV located near the cabin on multiple occasions and he had the license plate information. Investigators tracked down the owner of the vehicle and watched him.
They took a swab from the handle of his motorcycle. They later got a paper drinking cup he discarded. Those items were also sent to the lab in Quantico.
According to court documents the items tested at Quantico positively identified the 56-year-old Mill Creek man; the positive identification was 1 in 460 quadrillion.
FBI agents searched Woods condominium in Mill Creek on Monday and collected his computers, Amazon Fire, SD cards, Polaroid tablet, VHS tapes and video recorder.
More news from KIRO 7
- Freshman victim in Florida massacre moved from Western WA
- What knocked over 100 giant trees in Olympic National Park?
- Chance for lowland snow Sunday before coldest blast of winter
- Search for man presumed overboard off bulk carrier in Puget Sound
- Seen these Green Pigs? Here's why the stunt has Seattleites outraged