Chehalis Man Who Photographed Molestation of 9-Year-Old Girl Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

          A 33-year-old resident of Chehalis, Lewis County, Washington was sentenced late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to a total of more than 20 years in prison and lifetime supervised release for production of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. BRANDON K. PHELPS is already serving more than 15 years in prison on a state sentence for separate crimes of child molestation and rape. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle imposed a 228-month federal sentence on top of an 18-month sentence PHELPS had already served in state custody, saying, “Deterrence is very important...word must be out there for others like you that, if you engage in these crimes (child sex offenses), you will receive very long sentences.”

          According to records filed in the case, in 2014, PHELPS babysat three minor children, one of whom was a 9-year-old girl. PHELPS forced the young girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct. PHELPS made photos of the abuse using his smart phone, and described the abuse to others in email communications. PHELPS made additional sexually explicit photos of another young child while she slept. In October 2014, law enforcement received a cyber-tip concerning the defendant’s online exchange of child pornography with others. PHELPS was arrested in January 2015.

          On February 22, 2017, PHELPS was sentenced to 185 months in prison for Child Molestation for an incident in 2009 when he pulled a 10-year-old’s bathing suit aside to view her bare vagina, watched her take a shower and offered to display his naked body to her. PHELPS was also convicted of raping his adult girlfriend while she was incapacitated.

          The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) and the Seattle Police Department in its role as operator of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force.

          The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Grady Leupold in coordination with the Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.