Saturday, October 3, 2026

Washington State Patrol issued Missing Indigenous Person Alerts on October 2 for Elvis “EJ” Culps, Ayralya Martinez, and Malakai Reevis.

A Spokane County Superior Court judge sentenced Joshua E. Hogan, 34, to 68 months to life in prison after a jury found him guilty in July of first-degree child molestation.

The jury also found Hogan abused a position of trust in committing the crime.

According to the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the offense occurred in May 2023 in an Airway Heights home where Hogan lived with his girlfriend and her daughters. The child, who was 10 at the time, reported what happened to her school counselor the following day.

Hogan was also sentenced to lifetime community custody, must register as a sex offender, and was ordered to have no contact with the victim for life.

Former Longview School District superintendent Karen Cloninger, who previously worked in Spokane-area schools, has filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit against the district and three school board members.

Cloninger was arrested in May on suspicion of witness tampering, obstruction, and failure to report child abuse arising from an investigation into alleged sexual abuse involving the boys’ basketball program at a Longview high school.

Her criminal case remains pending. Cloninger denies wrongdoing; her attorney says she was made the “fall guy.” The district disputes allegations in her lawsuit.

Spokane Major Crimes Detectives continue to investigate the unexpected death of a 7-year-old boy at a Spokane Valley residence.

Deputies responded September 18. Initial information indicated the child had been ill and had vomited during the evening, but investigators said he had no known health issue that explained his sudden death.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner was expected to determine the cause and manner of death.

Today We found no significant new public determination.

The death of an 8-year-old Spokane girl remains on THE DOCKET’s watch list.

Her mother, 23, has been charged with manslaughter and abandonment of a dependent person. She has not been convicted, and the case is set for trial in November.

What We Are Watching Formal case developments, Medical Examiner findings, and additional court proceedings.

Spokane Valley deputies arrested Morgan L. Nelson, 40, following a September 21 incident in which a mother reported that a woman she did not know grabbed her 7-year-old daughter, who broke free, and then tried to take her 19-month-old from her arms.

Nelson was arrested and booked on suspicion of kidnapping and assault, and Major Crimes Detectives continued the investigation. The Sheriff’s Office said the children did not appear seriously injured; the mother and both children were taken to the hospital to be checked.

The criminal allegations have not been proven in court.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office issued a community notification concerning Marvin J. Compo, identified by the agency as a Level III registered sex offender residing in the 12700 block of East Mission Avenue in Spokane Valley.

The Sheriff’s Office specifically states that people included in these notices have served their court-imposed sentences and are not currently wanted by law enforcement.

Spokane Police say the object that led to a September 30 lockdown at Rogers High School appears to have been a toy gun.

Police did not locate an armed person. Investigators said the original caller later indicated the object may have had orange coloring on it.

Investigators with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, part of the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, arrested Joshua Mulvey, a Kootenai County resident, on September 1.

Mulvey was charged with one count of video voyeurism and ten counts of possession of child sexual exploitation material. Post Falls Police assisted.

These charges are allegations, and Mulvey is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Luc-Edner Pierrot, 46, a former Lake Pend Oreille School District employee, was arrested in Georgia and extradited to Bonner County after prosecutors charged him with two counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16.

According to court-document-based reporting, the alleged conduct occurred between 2017 and 2019. Pierrot worked for the school district during that period, including as a special-education paraprofessional at Sandpoint Middle School.

He was being held on $750,000 bail when the case was reported. The allegations have not been proven.

In October 2025, a federal grand jury indicted Zachary Dean Perpinan of Post Falls, then 26, on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, distribution of child sexual abuse material, and possession of child sexual abuse material.

Federal investigators said the investigation began with an undercover Homeland Security Investigations operation on the dark web. The charges remain allegations unless proven in court.

Washington’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families received $200,000 in federal funding to improve its background-check system for kinship caregivers, foster families, and prospective adoptive parents.

DCYF says the money will be used to reduce background-check turnaround times and help move children into approved placements more quickly. Washington was one of 14 child-welfare jurisdictions receiving the federal funding.

Washington DCYF is preparing its proposals for the 2027 legislative session and will hold a public webinar on Thursday, October 15, from 2 to 3 p.m., covering agency-request legislation and budget proposals.

Robert Michael Harris, 43, of Middleton, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a child.

According to federal court records summarized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, investigators linked an account belonging to Harris to an online group devoted to sharing child sexual abuse material and determined that the account had posted more than 100 files.

He also received lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution.

No major new Oregon child-protection or child-exploitation case was identified in today’s October 1–3 federal scan that warranted elevation into the Daily Docket.

No major new Montana child-exploitation federal release was identified in today’s October 1–3 window.

We will continue monitoring Montana federal prosecutors, state agencies, and child-welfare developments.

You may have seen headlines stating that convicted former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar was removed from Michigan’s sex-offender registry.

The larger registry change is real.

On September 9, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the 2021 amendments to Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act could not be applied retroactively to people whose qualifying offenses occurred before July 1, 2011.

Michigan State Police says approximately 43,000 people were actively registered or required to register when the ruling was issued, and more than 20,000 had been removed by September 11. The ruling addresses registration requirements, not the underlying convictions.

But the viral Nassar headline needs an important correction.

The Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office initially said Nassar had been among those removed. Michigan State Police later clarified that Nassar was not removed from Michigan’s online registry because he was never in the public online database. Nassar is serving a federal prison sentence outside Michigan, and MSP says people who are not living, working, attending school, or incarcerated in Michigan generally do not have a current Michigan registration duty.

Bottom Line More than 20,000 people really were removed from Michigan’s registry because of the Supreme Court ruling. But saying Larry Nassar himself was removed from the Michigan public registry is misleading based on Michigan State Police’s clarification.

Federal prosecutors announced several child-exploitation cases on October 2, including the four that follow.

Federal prosecutors announced that Marcus Williams Robinson, 28, was charged in a three-count indictment involving alleged sex trafficking and distribution of material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor.

One count involves alleged sex trafficking of a minor.

An indictment is an accusation. Robinson has not been convicted of these charges.

On September 30, a federal jury in Waco convicted Jordan Anthony Pearce, 30, a former U.S. Army soldier, on nine counts involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of two minors.

According to federal prosecutors, one victim reported abuse that began when she was 11. A second girl later reported that Pearce had sexually abused her when she was between 13 and 16.

Federal prosecutors announced that Charles Mark Wooters, 34, of Easton, Maryland, was indicted on charges including sexual exploitation of a child, transportation and receipt of child sexual abuse material, and multiple possession counts.

These are allegations; Wooters has not been convicted.

The Department of Justice announced that a jury convicted Terry Mead Jr., 51, of sexual exploitation of a child while under a duty to register as a sex offender, distribution of child sexual abuse material, and possession.

The jury verdict occurred September 16 and was announced by federal prosecutors on October 2.