Man applying to be Mount Vernon cop admits to viewing child porn, documents say

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. -- An Arlington man applying to be a Mount Vernon police officer admitted during a polygraph test to having viewed child porn on his home computers.

According to court documents from the Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office, Daniel Salata, of Arlington, was testing to become a police officer back in May and disclosed that he has viewed child porn.

The documents say he told a polygraph examiner that he has viewed the images of children between 2 and 15-years-old since 2006. He also told them that he has viewed children being assaulted.

Detectives served a search warrant on Aug. 27 and took three computers into evidence.

Prosecutors said during an interview, Salata told investigators that there were likely more than 500 images of naked children on his computers.

Detectives said they found images and a video on the computers.

Arlington police arrested and booked Salata into the Snohomish County Jail on Monday. He's being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors have charged Salata with four counts of Possession of Depictions of a Minor Engaged in Explicit Conduct.