Man charged after child pornography stash found in remote 'gingerbread treehouse'

KING COUNTY, Wash. – A Washington State Department of Natural Resources worker searching for a long-rumored “gingerbread treehouse” in the Snoqualmie National Forest found the house – and inside of it a cache of child pornography that led to a man’s arrest.

Daniel M. Wood, 56, is facing child pornography charges in King County Superior Court after an FBI investigation tied him to the treehouse and dug up more child pornography in his Mill Creek home, according to court documents.

A summons was issued for Wood to appear in court March 26, and he’s been ordered not to have contact with any minors.

According to court documents, the DNR employee said he’d heard about the treehouse for years, and tried to find it five different times. Finally, in November 2016, he found what he described as "an elaborate treehouse that resembled a fairy or gingerbread house" about eight feet off the ground. It was built illegally on federal land in the Snoqualmie National Forest.

Screwed to the walls inside the treehouse were framed pictures of young naked girls. There was also an envelope with more pictures of naked and scantily clad underage girls who appeared to be as young as eight.

He reported it to the King County Sheriff’s Office and set off an investigation that would eventually involve the FBI.

A search and rescue volunteer who knew the area well told investigators that he had come across the cabin several times, and that he’d seen a Toyota FJ Cruiser parked nearby. He had the license-plate number for the Toyota, and investigators tracked that to Wood’s house.