Spokane Man Faces Child Porn Charges Lab Technician Ordered Not To Use The Internet As Condition Of Release

A hospital laboratory technician facing federal charges of possessing child pornography has been ordered not to use the Internet as a condition of his jail release.

George Scott Hughes, 50, also can’t be near children without another adult being present, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno ruled Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl Hicks argued unsuccessfully that Hughes should be held in jail without bond until he is brought to trial.

The judge said because Hughes is presumed innocent, he can be released under stringent requirements.

He can’t use the Internet, which he’s accused of using to download images of children as young as 3 and 4 years old involved in sex acts.

U.S. Customs Service agents arrested Hughes on Tuesday at Newport Community Hospital, where he has worked for 16 years as a lab technician.

Agents simultaneously searched Hughes’ home at 2608 N. Stevens in Spokane. They seized 150 computer disks and his computer, Hicks said.

A review of about half of those seized disks revealed 800 picture files, mostly of children involved in sex acts, Hicks said.

Undercover agents went to the Newport hospital to deliver three child porn videotapes in trade for three computer disks containing similar material, Hicks said.

Hughes is accused of mailing the three disks in mid-January to a Louisiana man he thought was interested in trading child porn.

The man Hughes met on the Internet turned out to be a Customs Service agent.

Hughes is charged with interstate shipment of child porn, but likely will face additional counts when the case is reviewed by a grand jury next week.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Last week, in a similar case prosecuted by federal authorities in Spokane, William Yaryan was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

, DataTimes