‘Gingerbread house’ in Snoqualmie forest found with child porn
Mar 19, 2018, 6:00 PM | Updated: 6:24 pm
A Mill Creek man allegedly hid child pornography at an illegal “gingerbread house” deep in the Snoqualmie forest.
A Department of Natural Resources worker found the remote cabin miles away from the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River in November 2016, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The cabin was built 8 feet off of the ground, like a tree house. It bears the aesthetics of a storybook cabin. Inside was food, bedding, supplies like dishes and candles, and child pornography.
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FBI investigators found framed pictures of young, naked girls inside the gingerbread house, The Seattle Times reports. It also held envelopes stuffed with more sexually explicit images of children, however, nobody knew who built the cabin or who had been using it. The FBI tracked down a man whose vehicle was seen in the area. That man was placed under surveillance.
After a months-long investigation, they were able to charge him. Investigators matched his DNA (from a discarded paper cup) to DNA found in the cabin on a coffee mug and on drug paraphernalia. The FBI further searched the man’s home where they found thousands of images of child erotica and pornography, along with pictures of the cabin. The pictures appear to be of girls between the ages of 8 and 12.
Daniel Wood, 56, of Mill Creek is charged with two counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Snoqualmie gingerbread house
Hikers had reported the gingerbread house to forest service officials for about seven years. It was once inspected by the forest service in 2013-14, but no illegal materials were found. A DNR official heard about hikers finding the structure and set out to find it in November 2016.
He found framed pictures of “fairy-like figures” and fictional characters inside, the Times reports. As well as photos of “young girls naked or scantily-clothed.”
The DNR employee reported what he found to the King County Sheriff’s Office. The FBI was contacted because the cabin is on federal property.
