Spokane woman arrested in connection with producing and sharing child pornography depicting family member
A Spokane woman is accused of producing child pornography depicting a family member and sharing it with a man in Los Angeles.
Jessica Cunnington, 27, a subject in a monthslong investigation detailed in a search warrant written by Detective Kevin Richey of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, was arrested Tuesday morning. She’s facing charges of first-degree child rape, first-degree child molestation and sexual exploitation of a minor.
Timothy Marchini, 60, was taken into custody in Los Angeles County in October in connection with receiving the child pornography. Ayn Dietrich, an FBI spokeswoman based in Seattle, confirmed Monday the agency is assisting in the investigation. Court records show Marchini was booked for violating the conditions of his release as a registered sex offender.
The warrant, filed Jan. 17 in Spokane County Superior Court, sought access to the contents of Marchini’s phone seized during his arrest. Records say he apparently received illicit photos from Cunnington in August through the phone messaging app Kik. Cunnington’s phone, meanwhile, was apparently destroyed, possibly at the direction of defense attorney Rob Cossey, according to court documents.
The Spokane County investigation into Cunnington began Dec. 2, after a friend of the woman alerted deputies to a computer, external hard drive and several CDs that were given to her. She said Cunnington claimed Google had sent her a subpoena from the FBI “indicating she was being investigated for inappropriate online activity,” and she didn’t want to lose family pictures.
Court documents indicate Cunnington’s estranged husband told detectives the two of them sought counsel from two attorneys, one of whom is Cossey. The husband told detectives Cossey advised Cunnington to “lose or destroy her phone because the phone was used to take the pictures and video of herself and the (family members).”
Reached Tuesday, Cossey said he met with Cunnington briefly and noted she couldn’t afford a private defense attorney. He refuted the claim made to detectives that he had ordered Cunnington to destroy the phone.
“No, no,” he said. “I told her not to have it in her possession.”
On Jan. 9, detectives said, they viewed a chat history between Cunnington and Marchini. Cunnington’s account, called Akkostic1, apparently messaged Marchini’s, called daddy4ltlgrl, saying she loved his blog.
The conversation quickly turned sexual as Marchini asked if Cunnington ever performed sexual acts on children. The chat history, according to the warrant, then suggests pictures and videos were sent by Cunnington.