Ex-Fairfax police officer pleads guilty to
possessing child pornography
By Tom Jackman May 23 at 2:09 PM
Former Fairfax County police officer William
“Bud” Walker pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts of possessing child
pornography. (Fairfax County Police Department)
A former Fairfax County police officer pleaded
guilty Monday to 10 counts of possessing child pornography, and he was
handcuffed in the courtroom and taken to the Fairfax jail without bond as soon
as his hearing ended.
William M. “Bud” Walker, 50, was a Fairfax
officer for 15 years, with his last six years spent as a spokesman in the
police public information unit, handling daily inquiries from the news media
and the public about the department’s activities and cases. Prior to that, he
was a school resource officer at South County High School. In April 2015,
police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children (NCMEC) about suspected child pornography photos uploaded to a Tumblr
account. Detectives eventually traced the account to Walker, assistant Fairfax
commonwealth’s attorney Jessica Greis-Edwardson said Monday.
The prosecutor said Walker agreed to speak
with Fairfax detectives and acknowledged managing the Tumblr account, which had
been shut down once for an inappropriate photo. The police searched Walker’s
home computer and submitted 20 images to NCMEC, which maintains a database of
child porn victims, and the organization said two of the photo subjects were
known victims, Greis-Edwardson said. She described the 10 photos that
constituted the 10 counts as all being of naked teenage boys, some alone and
some engaged in sex acts. Walker was not accused of creating any of the images
himself.
Walker was arrested and jailed on April 15,
2015, and released on $15,000 bond two days later, court records show. He was
indicted on the 10 possession counts in September. He did not speak in court
Monday other than to plead guilty and answer questions from Fairfax Circuit
Court Judge Daniel E. Ortiz. Each count carries a sentencing range of one to
five years in prison, and there was no agreement reached with prosecutors as to
the sentence. Ortiz set Walker’s sentencing for Aug. 12.
Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F.
Morrogh said after the hearing, “I thought the Fairfax County Police Department
did a great job in putting the case together and bringing Mr. Walker to
justice.” Walker becomes the second Fairfax police officer convicted of a
felony this year. Last month, former officer Adam D. Torres pleaded guilty to
involuntary manslaughter in the 2013 shooting death of John B. Geer. He also is
held in the Fairfax jail without bond awaiting sentencing next month, in which
prosecutors have agreed to a 12-month jail sentence.
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