A Vancouver man who worked as a certified behavior technician at a local autism therapy center pleaded guilty Friday in Clark County Superior Court to reduced charges as part of a pretrial settlement.
Sean T. Saito, 24, will be sentenced Aug. 15 on three counts of first-degree possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, court records show. Saito originally faced five counts of the charge.
The charge carries a sentencing range of 46 to 61 months.
Saito’s bail remains set at $10,000 prior to his sentencing.
Saito had worked at the Center for Autism & Related Disorders in Vancouver for about 1 1/2 years, court records state. He has denied ever touching a child, according to court records.
A probable cause affidavit says Saito’s fiancee contacted Vancouver police April 21 after finding a thumb drive in a night stand belonging to Saito. She said she was looking for her resume files but instead found what she suspected to be child pornography on the thumb drive.
Saito subsequently told investigators the thumb drive was his, and he’d been looking at child pornography for a number of years, according to the probable cause affidavit.
