Pasco man convicted on 10 counts for pornographic pictures, videos with teen girl

A 21-year-old Pasco man was convicted Friday of multiple felonies for taking pictures and videos of himself having sex with a teen girl.

The Franklin County Superior Court jury returned the verdicts against Frank Murillo IV after deliberating for about 2 1/2 hours.

Murillo was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

He was acquitted on one count each of sexual exploitation of a minor and possession with intent to deliver marijuana.

According to court documents, Murillo was arrested in February 2014 for being behind the wheel of a vehicle when his driver’s license was suspended and for violating probation conditions.

Officer Chad Pettijohn had seen Murillo driving near the Tahitian Motor Inn and, after numerous contacts with Murillo over the years, knew he shouldn’t be driving.

A community corrections officer directed the initial search of the vehicle because Murillo had violated his Department of Corrections conditions, and the evidence observed by officers led Pettijohn to get a search warrant signed by a judge.

Police claimed that the search of the vehicle turned up 78 grams of marijuana in a total of 12 baggies and a jar of pot, documents said. Murillo, who gave police his medical marijuana authorization, said the pot was his medicine and “he just liked to smoke a lot.”

Pettijohn was searching Murillo’s three cellphones when he discovered sex videos with a 16-year-old girl. He got a follow-up warrant, and uncovered hundreds of pornographic images of the girl on one of the phones.

The girl reportedly told police that the sexual contact happened Valentine’s Day at the motel. She confirmed it was her on the videos and said Murillo never talked to her about filming the sex acts but just started recording, court documents said.

A forensic analysis of the phone recovered about 1,600 pornographic images of the girl, documents said.

Murillo did not testify during his trial, which started Wednesday before Judge Alex Ekstrom. He will return to court May 19 to schedule a firm sentencing date.

He remains in the Franklin County jail on $25,000 bail.

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Pasco man convicted on 10 counts for pornographic pictures, videos with teen girl."