During a court hearing Monday, a Thurston County Superior Court judge ordered Christopher Buhi held without bail at the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of three counts of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
According to court papers, Olympia police began an investigation into the 43-year-old software company employee in August. That’s when two roommates reported to police that they had inadvertently come across child pornography while using an external hard drive belonging to the suspect. One roommate also reported that the man “frequently sought out areas in which children could be found playing and photographed them,” court papers say.
The hard drive contained “numerous photographs of female children who appeared to be under the age of 10 engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
During a follow-up conversation in September, one of the roommates told a detective that the man had engaged in other “inappropriate behavior that made her feel uncomfortable.”
Olympia police detective Brenda Anderson said Monday that police were still in the early stages of their investigation and were reviewing a large amount of computer equipment from the suspect’s home.
Detective Rebecca Fayette, who is reviewing the computer equipment, told Anderson that she has already located a significant amount of child pornography. The children are from ages 3-9, court papers state.
“In addition to the child pornography … , there also were numerous images of school-age children at play. These images included groups of children at playgrounds, school functions and a parade,” court papers state.
Police arrested Buhi on Friday near his home in the 1100 block of Brawne Avenue Northwest. He has no prior criminal history.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5445 jpawloski@theolympian.com
