2 arrests in Tri-Cities and Iowa after child rape, pornography investigation
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- Tip to missing children's center sparked discovery of long-term child abuse case.
- Suspects Whipple and Seltz face rape charges after images linked to Kik uploads.
- Whipple arrested in Iowa; Seltz held in Richland jail on $1 million bail each.
Two men are under arrest after a Tri-Cities child exploitation investigation uncovered the abuse of a young girl and distribution of child pornography, said federal and state investigators.
Bail is set at $1 million for Charles L. Seltz, 57, of Richland, who is charged in Benton County four counts of first-degree child rape.
His former West Richland housemate, Joseph R. Whipple, 34, was arrested in Iowa on federal charges of producing, distributing, receiving and possessing sexually explicit images of a child in Tri-Cities. His bail is also set at $1 million.
The men were arrested on Sept. 24 after investigators with the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes detectives from Kennewick and Richland, as well as Benton County deputies and Homeland Security agents, served warrants in Richland and Mason City, Iowa, said a federal news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Spokane.
The investigation began with a tip in October 2024 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The messaging app Kik alerted the center after Whipple allegedly uploaded two files that contained child porn into a private chat message on Oct. 8, 2024, court documents said.
Further searches reportedly turned up more than two dozen images and videos that Whipple had shared with others, said court documents.
Investigators soon learned that messages were linked to a prepaid mobile phone registered to Whipple and a West Richland address where he lived for a time with Seltz, court documents said.
Prosecutors say one of the videos and three of the photos can be linked to the West Richland home and the young Tri-Cities girl.
The girl later told a forensic interviewer that both men sexually assaulted her multiple times, court documents said.
Separately, Whipple was also under investigation in Iowa for allegedly possessing child pornography, and police had seized his phone. On it, Richland investigators found a conversation with Seltz, a picture of the girl and Whipple asking for sexual photos of her, according to court documents.
Sexual exploitation arrests
Whipple made an initial court appearance in federal court in Iowa and is expected to be brought back to U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington on the federal charges.
In addition, he is charged in Benton County with first-degree child rape with the aggravating circumstance of it being a pattern of abuse, as well as two counts of child molestation, allegedly involving multiple young children.
Seltz remains in the Benton County jail on the charges in Benton County Superior Court.