PORT ANGELES — Criminal charges, including charges of posting sexual photos online of two people without their permission, have been dropped against a Port Angeles man who still faces an April 3 trial for allegedly possessing an illegal short-barreled shotgun that authorities say was found during a search of his home.
Adam C. Chamberlin, 43, had charges of first-degree computer trespass, disclosing intimate images and third-degree possession of stolen property dismissed Thursday in Clallam County Superior Court.
Chamberlin ran the now-defunct “Clallam County Criminal Watch 2” Facebook page that sought to “enable concerned citizens to identify active criminals and drug dealers,” according to his GoFundMe page, and on which he allegedly posted lewd photos.
Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin decided to dismiss the three charges.
“I evaluate the evidence, see what’s the strongest and that’s the reason I am going forward on the one [charge] that I am,” Devlin said Friday.
Port Angeles attorney Karen Unger, who is representing Chamberlin, said she did not know why the charges were dropped.
“They made a decision, so I am going with what I have now.”
The illegal shotgun, and 16 handguns and rifles that police later said were legally in Chamberlin’s possession, were found along with several cellphones during a search of Chamberlin’s home in the 600 block of South Francis Street, according to an Oct. 13 arrest report.
The maximum penalty for possession of a short-barrelled shotgun — with one or two barrels of less than 18 inches in length — is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The authorities’ investigation of Chamberlin began Oct. 12 after a woman told police his “Criminal Watch 2” page contained photos of a woman she knew and a man engaged in a sex act with the woman’s breasts and the man’s genitals blurred.
The woman depicted in the photos told police they came from her cellphone, which she said she had lost in July.
Chamberlin told police he shut down the “Criminal Watch 2” page Oct. 12, the same day police began their investigation of the photos.
Chamberlin told Port Angeles Police Officer Whitney Fairbanks that he obtained the couple’s photos from a bag of memory cards he found in his mailbox and that he edited the depictions with white squares.
He said he “knows” the couple are criminals, according to the arrest report.
The woman said Chamberlin had been “harassing her and [her boyfriend] for the last year” and posted their addresses, phone numbers and emails on his Facebook page.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
