Warning: The following story contains graphic sexual details.
Christopher Martin Moller, a 52-year-old Orcas Island man, has been charged with multiple counts of sex crimes against children.
Moller was first charged in June 2021 with child molestation in the first degree and four counts of illegal possession of a firearm. A jury trial for that case is set for Oct. 18.
On Aug. 17, Moller was charged with three counts of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree and one count of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the second degree. An arraignment has been scheduled for Aug. 29.
Details of the cases
A teen and her mother contacted the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office in November 2020 to report an alleged sexual assault that occurred when the victim was between six and seven years old in 2010.
According to the probable cause statement, Moller was a family friend and spent time with the victim on Orcas while she lived there as a child. She told detectives that while she was using the restroom in his home, Moller opened the door, took a photo and asked her to spread her legs. Another incident occurred on his couch while watching television with Moller and a member of the victim’s family. Moller allegedly moved his hand up her skirt and touched her. Other members of the victim’s family, who live off-island, contacted the sheriff’s office in 2010 to report concerns about the victim having injuries that possibly indicated a sexual assault.
In the fall of 2020, the victim was prompted to report the two incidents after Moller appeared as a “suggested friend” on Facebook. Detective Lukas Peter of the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office spoke with a previous girlfriend of Moller’s who described him as a “sexual predator.” In 2008, she allegedly found photos on Moller’s laptop of young girls she recognized to be locals wearing bathing suits. She believed the photos were taken at Cascade Lake on Orcas Island. She also found videos of children engaged in sexual conduct with adults and other children.
In spring 2021, the victim accepted a Facebook request from Moller, who then sent the victim a message. In June, Detective Peter obtained an intercept order signed by Judge Kathryn Loring to begin chatting with Moller undercover using Facebook messenger. Moller made several attempts to get the victim to meet him, and when Detective Peter, posing as the victim, confronted Moller about touching her, he “admitted he got turned on” when the victim was naked after a bath and asked if she “liked being touched.” Moller said it was “exciting but confusing because society does not accept those kinds of actions.”
Police obtained a search warrant shortly thereafter for his home and car and arrested Moller. During a recorded interview, he admitted to knowing the victim as a child but denied touching her sexually. According to the probable cause statement, Moller said he was attempting to meet the victim “in order to discuss why she was having these memories of being touched, and figure out who was responsible.” Moller admitted he had seen child pornography on the internet, but said, “it had been years, and that it was inadvertent, and he closed the windows immediately.” Moller told investigators they were likely to find photos of “teen girls” on his electronic devices.
A search warrant was executed at Moller’s residence on Orcas, and electronic devices were seized. Printed material of child erotica and other materials pertaining to child sexuality was also located in Moller’s bedroom. In addition, four illegal firearms were found. Moller is not allowed to own weapons after pleading guilty in 1997 to a domestic violence charge.
The electronic devices were sent to Homeland Security Investigations Lab for imaging and analysis. A total of 742 of those files were identified by investigators as containing child abuse material and 6,404 were tagged as “child exploitative/age difficult,” indicating they may contain child abuse material but it was challenging to gauge the ages of the victims depicted. Files found contained images of girls and boys ranging in age from 4 to 14 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adults or posing nude.
There were also many photos and videos that were not matched by law enforcement as child abuse material.
“For example … several folders were created under user “christophermoller” which contained photos and videos of prepubescent children nude, partially nude or engaged in sexual activities. The largest file contained 25,000 images,” wrote Peter in the probable cause statement. “I know only a small number of such images have been categorized by law enforcement and offenders routinely alter images and videos to avoid detection.”
Deputies submitted the hash values of the 742 files identified as child exploitation material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Hash values represent large amounts of data and are used as digital signatures. NCMEC is a non-profit organization founded by congress that maintains a database of hash values associated with known child victims. It reported 67 files found on Moller’s devices as containing children previously identified by law enforcement as victims of pornography.
Moller’s previous criminal history includes domestic violence in the fourth degree and not having a valid driver’s license. Moller was arrested but not charged in 2012 for indecent exposure.
