LYNDEN — A Whatcom County judge has overruled a plea deal and sentenced a former Lynden police officer to nine months of house arrest for exchanging sexually explicit text messages with a teenage girl and keeping nude photos of her on his work phone.
The Bellingham Herald reports Superior Court Judge Ira Uhrig sentenced 59-year-old Donald Merle Gunt on Tuesday, overruling a deal that offered 45 days of house arrest.
Gunt pleaded guilty as charged to one count of possessing sexual depictions of minors.
Gunt has been diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer, a condition which stopped prosecutors from recommending jail time because it would leave taxpayers paying high medical costs if he were to be incarcerated.
However, Uhrig said Gunt must serve 10 days of his sentence behind bars unless he is found medically unfit.
