Felon pleads guilty to child pornography charges

A Spokane felon, caught with child pornography during a drug arrest, pleaded guilty Wednesday in a plea bargain that will require him to register as a sex offender and be on probation for four years.

Jack Kenneth Gannon II, 44, pleaded to more charges than he originally faced, but the sentence he receives on Nov. 9 may be served at the same time as a three-year sentence he recently received on a drug conviction. He also avoided the possibility that Deputy Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald would file additional child pornography charges.

Gannon originally was charged with one count of possessing child pornography without sexual motivation, but pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with sexual motivation. Without the admission of sexual motivation, Gannon wouldn’t have been required to register as a sex offender.

In addition, Gannon pleaded guilty to two counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. There was no evidence that he actually committed the crimes, but the law allows such a plea to achieve a mutually agreed sentence.

Gannon’s deal calls for him to be sentenced to a year in jail on each of the communication-with-a-minor charges, with all of the time suspended. The result will be an increase in his post-release probation from one to four years, and he will have a two-year sentence hanging over his head to ensure he successfully completes sex-offender treatment and complies with other conditions of his release.

Police found pictures of girls 10 or younger having sex with adults when they went to a home in the 2500 block of West Mallon to arrest Gannon on a drug warrant and to handle some unrelated business for Child Protective Services.

Gannon has a half-dozen prior convictions in Spokane and Pend Oreille counties, dating from 1987. He has been convicted of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, of drug possession, intent to manufacture methamphetamine, car theft and reckless driving.

In a February 1998 raid on a compound of trailers on rural property about six miles south of Newport, Wash., Pend Oreille County sheriff’s deputies caught Gannon and another man with a pot of meth brewing on a wood stove, pipe bombs in various stages of construction and several loaded weapons.