Child-porn suspect in jail without bond

Child-porn suspect Kenneth John Freeman agreed to remain in jail without bond during a brief arraignment Friday in U.S. District Court in Spokane, one day after the fugitive was returned from China.

The 44-year-old former reserve deputy is charged in a federal indictment, returned in the Eastern District of Washington, with production and transportation of child pornography.

He is accused of filming a sexual encounter with his daughter in their Richland home seven years ago and uploading the video to the Internet. Authorities say the video is now the most-watched child porn on the Internet.

After being charged with child rape in Benton County, Freeman fled to Seattle, then to China. He was arrested in May when he made a trip to Hong Kong. He was flown back to the United States on Thursday by deputy U.S. marshals on a small government jet that landed at Fairchild Air Force Base.

Freeman waived the reading of the indictment when he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno. He was brought into court by three deputy marshals who did not remove handcuffs tied to a waist-chain restraint.

The former fugitive, who has been featured twice on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted,” did not appear to make eye contact with at least a half dozen family members, including his father, who were ushered into the courtroom by a victim-witness coordinator with the U.S. attorney’s office.

The family members declined to talk to the media.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Lister said the government had filed a “pre-detention order,” asking that Freeman be held without bond on the grounds he’s a flight risk and danger to society.

Assistant Federal Defender Jaime Hawk, who appeared for Freeman, said he agreed to waive his right to a detention hearing where the defense could argue for the setting of a bond.

No trial date has been set, but he has the right to a jury trial within 70 days.