BONNERS FERRY — A preliminary hearing for a Bonners Ferry teen accused of obtaining child pornography has been continued to November.  

Taylor Dodd, 18, is expected to appear in court Nov. 13 for his preliminary hearing, two months after his originally scheduled hearing. Court documents don’t disclose why the continuance was requested, other than the request to extend the date by no less than 60 days.  

Dodd is facing seven felony counts of willfully possessing child exploitative materials, each holding a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

In addition to the requested continuance, Dodd was also granted a bond reduction to $75,000, which he posted later that day. Documents contend the request was based on Dodd’s age and his limited ability to financially support himself. As a condition of the release, Dodd cannot be unsupervised around minors and is subject to the normal conditions of release.  

Officials became aware of the alleged crimes through the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which received a tip from Discord, an instant messaging and VoIP social platform, when illicit images of minors were downloaded from the app. The images were downloaded in early April, according to court documents.   

Documents contend that other apps were also used, such as Telegram, an instant messaging app, and Threads, a text-based social media app by Meta, to purchase and download images.   

In his report, Bonners Ferry Police Officer Brandon Blackmore said that 116 images had allegedly been downloaded and saved to Dodd’s phone. He further contended that Dodd told officers that he had a severe pornography addiction that had escalated to include children.   

Documents indicate that the ages allegedly ranged from three to 15 in the images and also included adults.   

Dodd further noted in the file records that he hadn’t viewed the images since July and was seeking help from local support groups.   

An arraignment hearing has been scheduled for preliminary hearing tomorrow, where the court will determine if there’s enough evidence to charge Dodd.