A former Vancouver Public Schools employee who possessed video files of child pornography on his personal computer was sentenced Friday to nearly four years in prison.
Alex J. Wright, 31, pleaded guilty last month in Clark County Superior Court to three counts of first-degree possessing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Wright, who had worked as a student success advocate in the counseling center at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was terminated March 2, according to Pat Nuzzo, the district’s communications director. Wright had been placed on leave when he was arrested Jan. 28, 2016.
Investigators don’t believe Wright had any inappropriate encounters with or improper images of Jefferson students. Nuzzo previously told The Columbian that IT staff checked his district-issued computers, and there were no inappropriate images on them.
Wright was arrested following an investigation by the Vancouver Police Department’s Digital Evidence Cybercrime Unit. Investigators identified an Internet protocol address associated with child pornography and traced it to Wright’s home computer, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Officers found at least nine video files, some of which included child pornography. Wright also admitted downloading and installing peer-to-peer software as a way to potentially share images, court records said.
Wright worked for Vancouver Public Schools beginning in 2010. He was first hired as a basketball coach at the middle school and as a substitute district resource officer. He was hired as a district resource officer in 2012 and worked at Skyview High School, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, and Jefferson. Wright was then hired as a student success advocate in September 2015.
On Friday, his defense attorney, Jack Green, said Wright suffers from alcohol addiction. He has been through inpatient and outpatient treatment, and goes to Alcoholics Anonymous and Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings, Green said. He’s also on a mental health treatment regimen.
“I have worked really hard over the last year to better myself and be a better member of society,” Wright told the judge. He’s nine months sober, he said, and hopes to work toward becoming a chemical dependency counselor after he’s released.
Judge Gregory Gonzales followed the attorneys’ previously agreed-upon sentencing recommendation of 46 months in prison, followed by 36 months of community custody. Wright was given credit for 33 days. He will have to undergo a sexual deviancy evaluation and treatment. He is not to have contact with minors, except for two boys he may be living with when he’s released, and must register as a sex offender.
