SPOKANE — A 50-year-old Spokane volleyball coach whose child pornography prosecution factored into the firing of a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to five years in federal prison Wednesday.
Richard D. Wright Jr. pleaded guilty in February to receipt of child pornography after FBI investigators discovered more than 600 explicit images at his home in Spokane Valley. Wright had coached at Lewis & Clark High School and a club team that included the daughter of Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Chamberlin, whom Wright asked for a character reference letter in the middle of his case.
Chamberlin was later fired by Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich for lying during the investigation, a charge Chamberlin disputed after announcing his intention to run for Knezovich’s office this fall, though he said writing a letter of support was “a misjudgment.” Chamberlin withdrew from the race last month.
Wright’s devices, seized by the FBI, included explicit images of minor victims ranging in age from 12 to 15. But investigators did not find any images believed to be of girls he coached, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Eastern Washington announcing the sentence.
