A former reserve officer with the Kelso Police Department was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years for charges related to possessing sexually explicit images of children.
Kirk Douglas Turya, 57, of Kelso, was sentenced to 46 months in a Washington state prison as part of an earlier plea deal with Cowlitz County prosecutors.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Jill Karmy followed through with the deal by imposing 36 months of community custody and a $3,000 fine, and ordered that Turya register as a sex offender once he is released from his incarceration.
As part of his deal with prosecutors, Turya pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to three counts of first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, with the remaining charges dismissed.
He originally faced 11 criminal charges, mostly possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first-degree, and one charge of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the second-degree.
According to court records, the investigation into Turya began after a Longview police officer received a tip, which allowed authorities to geolocate Turya using his IP address. Also, Dropbox reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that an account that was linked to Turya uploaded a video depicting a child being sexually assaulted by a man.
Police gained access to Turya’s accounts with Dropbox, Comcast Cable, Facebook, Google, Hotmail, and T-Mobile by way of a search warrant. Turya was arrested on Sept. 10.
Turya's attorney, David Phelan of the Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense, told Karmy that his client didn't produce the illegal content, nor does he know who created it. During Wednesday's hearing, it was revealed that the sexual assault content in Turya's possession mostly came from Russia, Florida and some from Kelso.
During the tail end of his sentencing hearing, Turya said he had never been in trouble before, asked the judge for leniency, and said the entire episode was a "one-off thing."
Before sitting down at the counsel table, Turya hugged a woman in the gallery of the Cowlitz County Jail courtroom.
A Kelso city official previously told The Daily News in 2025 that Turya was a reserve officer with the Kelso Police Department in 1994.
