Gold Bar ex-council member sentenced for sharing child porn

GOLD BAR, Wash. — A former Gold Bar city council member has been sentenced to three years in federal prison and 10 years of probation for collecting and sharing images of child sexual abuse.

A judge sentenced 49-year-old Brian Diaz recently in U.S. District Court. Federal prosecutors said Diaz used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to download images of very young children being tortured and sexually abused, the (Everett) Herald reported.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security traced his IP address and searched his home in 2019. Prosecutors say he said regularly watched pornographic videos of children, and said he was aware that he was sharing the videos online.

Diaz pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle in 2019 to possession of child pornography.

Diaz was elected to the Gold Bar City Council in 2017, running unopposed in a year where all of the city’s council races went uncontested. He resigned Feb. 5, 2019, citing “circumstances beyond my immediate control.”

Additionally, once the charges came to light, his license to practice as a pharmacist was suspended by the state health department. He also was fired from his job at a Seattle genetic research company.