23 Year Old Sequim Man Arrested on Child Exploitation Charges Released From Jail as Ties to Embattled LDS Port Angeles Stake Emerge
A Sequim resident was arrested last week on multiple felony charges related to the possession of child sexual abuse material, following a complex, multi-year investigation that involved dark web tracking, cryptocurrency tracing, and a Christmas Eve raid.
But as the criminal case against 23-year-old Carl J. King begins in Clallam County Superior Court, preliminary background research by The Olympic Herald reveals the suspect is institutionally tied to a local community currently at the center of a massive judicial corruption probe.
Charges
On April 23, 2026, Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputies, assisted by the Sequim Police Department, arrested King at his Sequim residence at 303 Evening Star Way.
King was booked into the Clallam County Jail on four counts of possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, along with one count of tampering with physical evidence.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Roberson, the investigation began over two years ago.
On November 3, 2023, detectives received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating that an internet user had uploaded files containing illicit depictions of prepubescent children to a cloud server.
The investigation escalated on Christmas Eve of 2025, when detectives executed a search warrant at the Evening Star Way home.
According to the affidavit, Carl’s father, Clifford King, initially answered the door. When confronted by detectives, Carl King reportedly stated, “I’m just gunna plead the 5th here.”
During the raid, deputies observed Carl actively attempting to hide his cellphone under the home’s rear steps, according to court documents.
According to the affidavit, detectives located and seized the cellphone, and subsequent digital forensics revealed a highly sophisticated effort to conceal the abuse material. Investigators discovered that King used a Tor Browser to access the dark web, utilizing Bitcoin to purchase the illicit files.
The CSAM was then moved into a secret photo vault explicitly disguised as a calculator application on his phone, according to court documents.
A Test for a Compromised Court System
King made his preliminary appearance on April 24 before Judge Elizabeth Stanley. During this hearing, King was represented by public defender Alex Stalker.
While the prosecution requested bail be set at $100,000 citing the severe nature of the charges, Judge Elizabeth Stanley ultimately authorized King’s release on personal recognizance, according to court records.
Clallam County jail records confirm King walked free from custody that same afternoon at 2:33 p.m.
Furthermore, King’s travel was restricted to Washington State, he was ordered to maintain residence at his parents’ home, and he is restricted from contacting minor children under the age of 16 unless supervised.
King’s official arraignment is scheduled for this afternoon at 1:00 PM.
While Judge Stanley handled the initial appearance, the trajectory of this case in Clallam County Superior Court will be closely watched by citizens and advocates demanding judicial transparency.
According to records obtained from the Clallam County Assessor, the residence at 303 Evening Star Way belongs to Carl King’s parents, Clifford King and Jaime King, who The Olympic Herald verified are members of the Dungeness Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Dungeness Ward falls directly under the jurisdiction of the Port Angeles Stake.
As the Olympic Herald has extensively reported, the Port Angeles Stake is at the epicenter of an ongoing investigation by the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct into Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden.
Judge Basden previously served as the Stake President. More recently, Basden served as a Counselor in an LDS Bishopric. Multiple CJC complaints accuse Judge Basden of operating a “closed-loop” justice system—weaponizing his courtroom to protect his fellow LDS members from secular accountability while punishing outsiders.
Complaints also allege that Basden has resurrected the 19th-century LDS practice of running “shadow courts,” utilizing his ecclesiastical authority to handle severe transgressions internally while using the civil bench to shield perpetrators from law enforcement.
This systemic protection of predators within the local LDS network is well-documented. It was most recently exposed during the Quillayute Valley School District scandal, where Tammy Leask, a para-educator with deep ties to the Port Angeles Stake, pled guilty to the rape of a 13-year-old student.
Following her arrest, prominent local LDS members actively praised Leask and sent letters of support to her in prison.
In another ongoing civil case, Basden allegedly shielded an LDS member accused of child sexual abuse, while the judge’s own ecclesiastical co-counselor acted as an aggressive surrogate for the accused.
With Carl King now facing felony charges for the exploitation of children, the citizens of Clallam County are left to ask a familiar, chilling question: Will this defendant face impartial secular justice, or will the institutional shielding that has defined the Port Angeles Stake attempt to intervene once again?
It is glaringly obvious that there is a cult of pedophiles and their protectors in power here in Clallam County and throughout the country and the world . Priests, princes, presidents , teachers, judges, lawyers all placed in positions we are taught to respect as they continue to prey on the most vulnerable . Shame on them all , and those who enable and shield them.
Excellent investigative reporting!
I would like to observe the hearing today.
Many people have suspected similar fraud and child trafficking among King county judges.