Hana
Kim
LYNDEN,
Wash. — A former Lynden police officer who also had been an activist in a
nonprofit group fighting human trafficking was arrested Friday on child porn
charges.
The
Washington State Patrol said he was allegedly trading cell phone images with a
16-year-old girl in Texas.
Donald
Glunt, 57, a 34-year veteran with the Lynden Police Department who recently
resigned, was taken into custody without incident, the Washington State Patrol
said.
Glunt
described himself on his LinkedIn page as being a co-training coordinator for
the church-based nonprofit group Hope4Justice, which is aimed at combating sex
trafficking.
According
to the Washington State Patrol, the investigation originated after officials
with the Lynden Police Department discovered images on Glunt’s city-owned cell
phone while conducting an internal administrative investigation. On Wednesday,
Lynden Police Chief Jack Foster asked the State Patrol to conduct a criminal
investigation into the matter.
Detective
with the Washington State Patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children’s Task Force
reviewed digital evidence and interviewed Glunt, which led to his arrest
Friday.
“The
investigation revealed the suspect was trading images with a 16-year-old girl
in Texas,” a State Patrol news release said. “Law enforcement authorities in
Texas assisted detectives by interviewing the underage victim. Additional
forensic review of various digital media devices seized as evidence is
ongoing.”
Neighbors
of Glunt said Friday night the charges were shocking.
“I
can’t even put it into words. When you are my age, 60, with a 16-year-old girl,
I mean, you know, it’s hard to get your head around that,” neighbor Matt
Magrath said. “It’s a small community. Everybody knows him. It brings a lot of
embarrassment and shame.”
Neighbor
Dan Dunnigan said, “You got to know anything you do these days online or on a
cell phone, they are going to figure it out.”
Dunnigan
said the allegations are even more disturbing because the accused is a former
police officer.
“Being
a police officer, it’s breaking the trust of the public when you do child
pornography thing,” Dunnigan said.
Glunt
was booked into the Skagit County Jail on charges of dealing and possession of
depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and viewing of
depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Additional charges
are possible pending the forensic analysis of the digital media devices.