Hanford workers sentenced for ‘horrendous, horrendous abuse’ in Tri-Cities child porn case

A Kennewick couple was sentenced to 30 and 28 years in prison Thursday in federal court in Richland for conspiring to produce child pornography using a Tri-Cities child who was being molested and raped.

U.S. Judge Mary Dimke told the victim, who was at the sentencing hearing, that she could not convey how horrendous their actions were, including the grooming and manipulation of a child at her most vulnerable time when it began.

The girl was starting at a new school and had just lost contact with her mother when the sexual abuse by Bret Michael Emineth began, Dimke said. He was later joined in the sexual abuse by his girlfriend, Malesa Hale, and shared photographs of the abuse.

As part of a plea deal reached in their federal case, Emineth, 41, also agreed to plead guilty in Benton County Superior Court to second- and third-degree child rape, second-degree child molestation and another charge related to sexual activity.

Dimke sentenced him Thursday to 30 years in federal prison, a lifetime of supervised release and $16,000 of restitution to the victim to be paid in conjunction with Hale, 36.

The judge said it was “with extreme reluctance” that she did not give him a longer sentence, but the plea agreement would be invalidated by a sentence of more than 30 years.

Federal prosecutors accepted the plea agreement with an upper limit of 30 years to obtain a guilty plea and spare the victim having to testify at trial.

Emineth deserved a sentence of life in prison, but it was in the victim’s best interest to preserve the plea agreement, Dimke said during the sentencing hearing.

She sentenced Hale to a shorter prison term, 28 years, noting that she had participated in the abuse and pornography production for a shorter time. Hale also will be on supervised release for the rest of her life after she gets out of prison.

Charges, which included child molestation and rape, filed against Hale in Benton County Superior Court will be dismissed under terms of her plea agreement.

Couple were Hanford workers

Emineth and Hale were co-workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation site near Richland, where they met and began dating after Hale was hired in 2019 as a radiological control technician.

The sexual abuse occurred regularly on Fridays, a day off at Hanford for Emineth, the victim wrote in a statement to the court read by Laurel Holland, assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Washington.

His behavior toward her was “insidious and manipulative,” Holland said.

She called him a “phenomenal actor,” appearing as a very successful person in public as he made the victim’s life a nightmare, Holland said.

About a year after the couple began dating, Hale became suspicious of his activity with the girl, and confronted him. Emineth admitted to a sexual relationship with the girl, according to federal court documents.

Rather than report him to police or end the relationship, Hale joined in the abuse and helped him to continue, according to a court document.

Hale acted as a trusted adult confident, not only participating in sexual abuse of the teen along with Emineth, but encouraging the teen to be abused and praising her as if the abuse was a choice, according to the court.

Hale had also been a victim of abuse, but when she was abused she was separated from her abuser, Dimke said.

The judge said she could not comprehend how Hale could participate in the sexual abuse rather than protecting the child once she learned about it.

Victim goes to Kennewick police

The abuse reached a peak in August 2020, with Hale directing Emineth through text messages on how to sexually abuse and photograph the victim as Emineth molested the teen and sent Hale photos, according to court documents.

The casual way Hale discussed abuse in text messages and the “depravity” of the texts was difficult to believe of a mother of young children, Holland said.

Emineth and Hale also discussed in text messages other girls who they might sexually abuse.

Emineth’s defense attorney Paul Shelton said the talk of involving others was fantasy.

But Dimke said she did not believe that because Hale appeared to be trying to emotionally prepare another underage girl to have sex with the couple before they were arrested.

Two days after the August incident with the text messaging and photos, the girl attempted suicide, according to federal court documents.

About 10 months later, she walked into the Kennewick police station and said Emineth had been abusing her sexually and physically for years. She said that Hale also was sexually abusing her and that there were photos.

Emineth was arrested the day the victim went to police, and Hale was arrested the next day.

Federal attorneys became involved in the case to prosecute the child pornography as a federal crime.

Dimke said she wanted the victim to know how “strong and brave” she was to report her abuse to police. It saved other children from being exposed to the couple’s “horrendous, horrendous abuse,” she said.

The victim said in her statement to the court that before the abuse started she found joy in everything, had friends and played sports.

She said Emineth had a “horrible angry side” and that he took advantage of her kindness and innocence.

Knowing that photos of her abuse exist is terrible, she said. The abuse has twisted her perception of everyone she meets and she thinks about it daily, she said.

Judge doubts remorse for rape

Emineth on Thursday submitted a letter to the judge, which was not immediately publicly available.

In court he sobbed and was difficult to understand as he told the judge he never expected to be facing a prison sentence.

“The rest of my life is going to be just s----,” he said.

He said he was sorry to the victim and to court officials.

“I always thought I was a good person,” he said.

The judge questioned whether Emineth was truly remorseful for his actions and the harm he had done.

Jailhouse calls and other evidence showed that his family blamed the victim and her boyfriend and that he was telling his family he had not molested the girl.

The letter he gave the judge before the sentencing hearing seemed manipulative, the judge said.

And when he addressed the judge in the courtroom he apologized more to nearly everyone in the room than the victim, the judge said.

Hale also briefly talked in court, saying she wanted the victim to hear her say that she was “very, very sorry.”

Her attorney, John Gary Metro, asked the judge to show mercy. He said in court documents that Hale was assaulted and received significant injuries while being held this year in the Yakima County Jail after being taken into federal custody.

Attorneys for both defendants requested federal prison terms of 20 years.

Under the plea agreement, Emineth pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to produce child pornography and production of child pornography.

Aggravating factors included the ongoing pattern of sexual abuse over years and Emineth’s position of trust.

Hale pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography and receipt of child pornography.

“Emineth and Hale’s child abuse was egregious, and today’s significant sentences recognize the horrors that the victim endured. But no sentence can return a child’s innocence,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref after the hearing. “All children deserve to live free from those who seek to exploit them.”