Man accused of grooming 5-year-old for child porn

EVERETT, Wash. — Police say an Everett man caught in a child porn sting wanted to add his neighbor's 5-year-old daughter to his twisted collection.

Nathan Coates, 35, was the one on camera Thursday in jail, accused of downloading hundreds of child porn images and more than a dozen videos.

Stacy Kuntz lived next to Coates and says he repeatedly offered to baby-sit her 3-year-old daughter.

"I just like to be with her all the time and I -- she's never been down there, thank God," said Kuntz.

Everett police say they did find photos of a neighbor's 5-year-old girl on Coates' computer. She was fully clothed. Police believe he spent time with the child so she would trust him to take photos of her. The girl's mother told us she never left the girl alone with Coates.

"They have some fear that he may be grooming this child that was found in these images. That is a part of their concern," said prosecutor Elise Deschenes.

Officers first believed the 5-year-old was the girl in other collected photos of a child performing sex acts.

They interviewed the neighbor and her daughter and say the victim in the pornographic photos is a different girl.

According to court papers, Coates confessed to downloading images but denied taking any of them himself.

No one was home when we stopped by his apartment Thursday. We're told Coates' girlfriend moved out with her two children.

"I believe he is a danger to the community," said Deschenes.

FBI detectives first flagged Coates' computer when he allegedly downloaded photos from a suspect in Ohio. Police learned he was using the WiFi whle he worked at an Everett mini mart to build his massive and disturbing collection.

What worries officers is Coates told them the majority of his photos are on an IPad which they are now searching.

KIRO