Richard Dale Wright, Child Pornography, Washington 2024
A Spokane Valley volleyball coach, Richard Dale Wright, 50, has been sentenced to 60 months in federal custody for downloading images of child pornography. Wright pleaded guilty earlier this year to Receipt of Child Pornography.
According to court documents, an undercover FBI Special Agent went online in the Spring of 2019 to identify people in the Spokane community who were sharing large volumes of known or suspected child pornography. The agent downloaded a number of child pornography files from Wright’s computer, and a subsequent search warrant at his residence in Spokane Valley resulted in the seizure of digital devices containing images and videos of child pornography dating back to 2017.
Wright had been a girls’ volleyball coach in Spokane and the Spokane Valley, including at Lewis & Clark High School, and with Apex, a club youth volleyball program for which Wright served as the director. He was also on the Board of Directors for the Evergreen Region Volleyball Association.
Although the ages of the victims depicted in Wright’s child pornography collection were consistent with the volleyball players he coached, FBI was not able to positively identify any of Wright’s former players in the child pornography images on his digital devices.
“It is deeply troubling that a coach, entrusted with the safety of teenage – and younger – girls, engaged in child pornography conduct that demonstrated his sexual interest in girls that age,” said Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.
Wright was sentenced by United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice, who ordered him to be taken into immediate custody, and also ordered him to serve the remainder of his life on federal supervision after he is released from prison.
This case was pursued as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the United States Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The case was investigated by the Spokane Resident Office of the FBI and prosecuted by David M. Herzog, Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.
Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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