Kennewick businessman’s child porn case leads to charges against younger brother

The younger brother of a Kennewick man alleged to be one of the largest distributors of child pornography in Eastern Washington now has his own case for possessing explicit videos.

The brothers reportedly did not know about each other’s interest in child exploitation material, according to court documents.

However, it was during the ongoing investigation in Daniel J. Bunch’s case that detectives discovered the downloaded files on David I. Bunch’s laptop and hard drive, documents said.

David Bunch allegedly had a small quantity of child pornography images and videos on his electronics compared to the very large stash that was amassed by his brother.

The evidence in both cases was found during a late-night search last July at their parents’ store, Bunch Finnigan Appliances on East Columbia Drive.

At the time, the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force had been following up on information from the FBI that led them to the store near downtown Kennewick.

The brothers were fourth-generation employees of the business.

Daniel Bunch is accused of using the store’s computer network to download and share child pornography, even setting it up so he could remotely access files on three computers when not at work.

David Bunch told investigators he stashed his laptop at the office because the father of three knew it contained pornography, both adult and child.

David Bunch, 39, was charged this week in Benton County Superior Court with two counts of first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

He has been sent a summons to appear in court Monday.

Meanwhile, Daniel Bunch is due back in court July 27 to reset dates. He had been set for trial this spring but it was changed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 40-year-old is charged with three counts of first-degree dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and two counts of first-degree possession of child pornography.

He has been out of custody since posting bond on $200,000 last August, and must wear a GPS ankle bracelet while living with his parents and avoid any contact with kids, including his own child.,

Both cases are being handled by Deputy Prosecutor Laurel Holland.

2-year investigation

The arrest of Daniel Bunch on July 11 was the result of a 2-year investigation by both FBI agents and the regional internet crimes task force.

A Spokane agent had downloaded images and video files from a then-unknown user on a file-sharing network, and the IP addresses were traced to the electronics and appliance store in Kennewick.

Daniel Bunch and his father told investigators last year that the older brother was the store’s most computer knowledgeable employee, court documents show.

David Bunch recently told investigators he “is not tech savvy” and said his brother used to assist with software updates and other issues, but had not touched his personal laptop in years, documents show.

During the after-hours search on July 10, detectives noticed activity on a 50-inch, mounted monitor that was turned on. It became clear that someone was accessing one of the main computers from a remote location and visiting Facebook and various websites, court documents said.

No one else was in the store at the time of the search warrant, and Daniel Bunch allegedly admitted he was the only employee with remote access capabilities.

Evidence seized included a laptop hidden on top of a store safe. It was connected to a 3 terabyte (TB) external hard drive that was 99 percent full of child pornography images and videos, documents said. A separate 10TB external hard drive was 2 percent full.

The storage capacity of a 3TB drive includes about 600,000 digital photos, 1,500 hours of videos or 750,000 4-minute songs.

Some of the identified sexually explicit images may have been captured as far back as the 1980s. They show adults sexually abusing children, from infants into their preteens, documents said.

Laptop in lock box

The store search also turned up a laptop and an external hard drive in a lock box in the employee break area. The box was unlocked, but was hidden on the lower shelf of a cupboard with other store supplies, court documents said.

A later forensic examination on those two electronics connected them to the suspect’s brother, David Bunch.

The laptop contained items like his personal bills, personal videos with family and Google searches relating to vehicles he owned.

The analysis also showed he had last used the laptop to view child pornography files on June 23, 2019, about 2 1/2 weeks before Daniel Bunch’s arrest, documents said.

Detectives met June 10 with David Bunch, who said he got the computer from his brother about four years ago and it was loaded with work-related software programs.

He said he used to own a home computer but it had crashed, so he transferred those files to this laptop and hard drive and kept them at work.

David Bunch allegedly said he started viewing child pornography in 2010 and knew it was wrong.

He gave detectives the name of the file-sharing network he used to search for explicit pictures and videos of underage girls, court documents said. That network reportedly is different than the one used by his older brother.

“(David Bunch) informed officers that he did not know of this brother’s interest in child exploitation material,” documents said.