PORT TOWNSEND — The daughter-in-law of former Chimacum High School Principal Rex Whipple testified Monday that she discovered nude images of his 15-year-old stepdaughter on his school district laptop computer while visiting her Arizona home last March.
Whipple, who was principal when he was arrested on March 13 in connection with the discovery of the images, faces one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and 10 counts of possessing depictions of a minor in sexually explicit conduct.
Testimony began Monday in his nonjury trial in Jefferson County Superior Court.
Whipple’s daughter-in-law, Shaun Whipple, sat on the witness stand encircled by Whipple, his defense attorney, Alton McFadden, county Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell and Sheriff’s Detective Joe Nole as they viewed 57 videos and photographs that Shaun Whipple identified as being shot outside Whipple’s Port Ludlow house.
Opened laptop
She recalled that during part of the time when Whipple visited her and her husband on March 10, she was alone in the house with Whipple’s computer.
She opened it and saw an icon that read “iPod videos or movies,” she testified in court Monday
When she opened the program, photographs popped up of Whipple’s stepdaughter, Elizabeth Ellis, now 16 and still attending Chimacum High School.
“When you clicked on the picture, it would turn into a 10-second shot of her undressing,” said Shaun Whipple, who flew from Arizona for the trial.
“It looked like she wasn’t aware she was being photographed.”
She said she tried to e-mail the videos to Whipple’s wife, Suzanne Dusha — now former wife — but the files failed to send.
Upon returning to Washington, Whipple said he lost the laptop computer, Nole testified.
The video evidence was extracted from the Chimacum School District’s server, which routinely backs up files from district computers connected to it, Nole said.
