Arlington officer on leave after Camano Island child pornography arrest

An Arlington police officer was placed on administrative leave after Island County deputies arrested him at his Camano Island home on allegations that hard drives containing child sexual abuse material were hidden in a closet compartment, a case that has put the department’s screening, oversight and public trust under scrutiny.

The officer, 41-year-old Dustin M. Bartlett, was taken into custody Monday night, May 19, after deputies served a search warrant at the Camano Island residence. Bartlett made his first court appearance Wednesday, May 20, in Island County Superior Court, where Judge Carolyn Cliff found probable cause for 10 counts of first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and one count of fourth-degree assault involving domestic violence.

Court documents say Bartlett’s girlfriend first saw pornographic images of children on his computer and later found the hard drives hidden inside a compartment in a closet. Prosecutors said the case raised concerns not only because of the volume of illegal material, but also because Bartlett could intimidate a witness or interfere with the justice process. Those concerns stemmed in part from allegations that he pushed his girlfriend away from his computer while she called 911 and deleted data from a hard drive while she was on the phone.

Bail was set at $100,000, and Bartlett posted it immediately, according to the Island County Jail roster. The judge allowed supervised contact with his children while the case proceeds. Bartlett’s defense said he had no criminal history, cooperated with investigators and was the primary custodial parent of three children.

The Arlington Police Department said Bartlett was placed on administrative leave pending criminal and internal administrative investigations. Chief Jonathan Venture called the allegations a tremendous shock and a major setback for the department. The department also said the conduct, if proven, would be fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities entrusted to law enforcement officers. That statement lands especially hard in Arlington, where Bartlett had recently been featured in a National Police Week appreciation post and was described by the department as part of its drone program, a field training officer, a negotiator and a rescue vehicle driver.

The case reaches beyond one officer and one agency because it moves through Camano Island, Island County court in Coupeville and the Arlington Police Department at the same time. Washington law treats possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct as a class C felony under RCW 9.68A.070, and the Washington State Patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force says it coordinates multi-agency operations aimed at finding and recovering sexually exploited children and apprehending child predators. For Island County residents, the unanswered question now is not only what Bartlett is accused of, but how thoroughly agencies vet and monitor the people entrusted with public safety before a case like this reaches court.