A former Kent family law attorney and youth baseball coach pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
David Scott Engle, 49, of Maple Valley, faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 years when he is sentenced Oct. 21 by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release. Law officials arrested Engle in November. He has been in jail since his arrest.
The Mount Rainier Baseball Association terminated Engle, a fellow board member, in November of his duties with the Enumclaw-based group that runs teams for players who live in the Auburn, Tahoma, Enumclaw, White River, Carbonado and Dieringer school districts.
Engle previously practiced law in Kent before moving his office to Maple Valley. Engle is a divorce attorney who has practiced law since 1992 in Washington.
According to records filed in the case, Engle came to the attention of law enforcement following the investigation of an international movie production company that operated a website offering DVDs and streaming videos for sale. The materials depicted young boys in sexually explicit activity.
Between 2005 and 2011, Engle purchased 184 different items from the website. The international movie production company was put out of business when agents seized its inventory and records. The company and the owners of the company are being prosecuted for child exploitation offenses, including the production and distribution of child pornography.
After law enforcement executed a search warrant on Engle’s home and storage locker in November, they discovered more than 500 videos of Engle sexually molesting a young boy under the age of 16. Law enforcement later discovered additional evidence of Engle sexually molesting another young boy, also under the age of 16. Engle is being separately prosecuted for those offenses by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Following forensic examination of a number of computers, DVDs, thumb drives, and floppy disks, investigators determined that Engle was in possession of tens of thousands of images of child pornography, and thousands of videos of child pornography.
Engle also was associated with several other youth baseball groups including the Southern Washington Babe Ruth Leagues, the Mid-Sound Pilots Select Bronco baseball team for 11- and 12-year-olds, and served as president of Maple Valley Pony Baseball and Fast Pitch, which serves kids who live in Maple Valley, Ravensdale, Hobart, Black Diamond, Covington, Kent and Auburn. Engle also was associated with a business named “5 Star Baseball and Softball.”
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