Dylan Tryon makes an a appearance in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.
An 18-year-old Centralia High School student has been charged with eight felonies, all of them sexual in nature, after being accused of numerous instances of rape and exploitation of underage girls.
More charges are likely to follow, said Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer, who added that authorities are working to determine the identities of additional victims who were depicted in explicit images on the suspect’s phone.
Dylan M. Tryon, of Centralia, was placed on a $250,000 cash bond Thursday afternoon, in tune with a request from Meyer.
“I believe that’s necessary based on very serious charges,” said Judge Andrew Toynbee.
According to court documents, Tryon is accused of forcing a female juvenile into having sex on multiple occasions. He allegedly choked the girl until she was on the verge of passing out on one occasion. These instances occurred somewhere between the span of Jan. 1, 2016 and Oct. 31, 2017.
Tryon’s phone was seized by the Centralia Police Department on June 18, and allegedly contained explicit images and videos of girls between the ages of 15 and 17. Four victims have been identified, and the Centralia Police Department and Meyer have both indicated more victims remain unidentified.
One of the identified victims told authorities Tryon would contact her with anonymous messages on the social media application Snapchat — a photo and video sharing platform — and demanded she send explicit photos or “he would send out other photos, embarrassing in nature.”
“The sender would demand pictures (i.e. ‘I want 6 pictures!’). This happened multiple times, each time accompanied by a threat,” read court documents. Pictures of that particular juvenile date back to Nov. 3, 2016 — the earliest date provided in court documents, which go on to read: “There are several additional photographs that remain to be identified.”
Meyer called Tyron’s actions extortion “for his own pleasure.” He has been charged with: second-degree assault — by strangulation — domestic violence, a class B felony; second-degree rape, a class A felony; sexual exploitation of a minor, a class B felony; first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, a class B felony; second-degree extortion — sexual motivation, a class C felony; sexual extortion of a minor, a class B felony; and two counts of first-degree possession of minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, class B felonies.
Sexual assault protection orders were signed for each of the identified alleged victims. Toynbee ordered Tryon not to use any sort of device that allows internet access.
He has an arraignment hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
