King County man arrested for possessing 50,000 images of child porn
Mar 11, 2025, 7:41 AM | Updated: 7:44 am
Stock image of someone typing on a keyboard. (Photo courtesy of Getty Image Illustrations)
(Photo courtesy of Getty Image Illustrations)
A Seattle resident was charged with possessing child pornography, and now investigators are discovering this wasn’t the first time he’s faced these charges.
The suspect, Christopher Hamilton, 38, has been charged with possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in King County. According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, Hamilton took a lot of precautions to avoid getting caught, including using the dark web and meeting with another suspect in person to share the illegal images, instead of doing it online. The person Hamilton would share these images with was arrested on unrelated charges, which eventually led authorities to discover what Hamilton and the other suspect were involved with.
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“(If not) for his co-conspirator being arrested on unrelated charges, it is unlikely he would have been discovered,” prosecutors stated in court documents obtained by KIRO Newsradio and MyNorthwest.
Prosecutors claimed Hamilton bragged to investigators about his collection of sexual abuse depictions, which is upwards of 50,000 images across 128 gigabytes of storage.
According to the court documents, prosecutors found Hamilton was previously convicted of possessing child sexual abuse materials back in 2012 — 13 years ago in Michigan.
“Given his prior conviction and his clear sophistication, high bail is necessary to protect the children in the community as he has done so much more than just collect and offer his collection of child sexual abuse to others,” prosecutors wrote. “He conspired with another on multiple occasions to rape minors in the most graphic and unambiguous language.”
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Authorities found approximately 1,300 messages between Hamilton and the other suspect regarding their desire to commit sex crimes against children, including specifically discussing finding mothers willing to offer their children for sex and specific individuals who they think will meet their sexual needs.
Hamilton is currently being held on $250,000 bail.
This is a developing story, check back for updates
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest and producer of the Seattle Seahawks podcast, The Reset with Gee Scott. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.
