Peshastin Man Charged With Possession Of Child Pornography

A Peshastin man is charged with possession of child pornography. 

Chelan County deputies arrested 42-year-old Kenneth Dykes Friday in connection to a federal investigation of the Crimes Against Children Task Force.  

He was formally charged Thursday in Chelan County Superior Court. 

The federal probe pegged Dykes' address in Peshastin with an internet account linked to an online community of people who sent and received child pornography between 2016 and 2019 on a hidden service website through the anonymous Tor network.  

Dykes faces a total of four counts of possession of Child Pornography - three counts of Possession of Depictions of Minor Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct in the First Degree and one count of Possession of Depictions of Minor Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct in the Second Degree. 

He was connected to the online hidden service website by his subscription to Charter Communications. 

A federal investigator received a warrant to search Dykes residence for electronic devices and other evidence on June 17. 

Dykes was interviewed the next day, and a search of the residence was conducted. The investigator said 2,187 images of child pornography were located in the search. 

He website he accessed to get the images operated for the three years between 2016 and 2019, and reportedly had more than 820,000 members and more than 81,000 postings. 

Dykes was given no bail until his first court appearance which could have taken place Monday. He was being held at the Chelan County Regional Justice Center.

The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office was assigned to the case on September 6, following the federal investigation through the Homeland Security Investigations.