A Portland-area special education swimming instructor and former high school swim coach has been arrested on allegations that he made child pornography and had written plans detailing how to abuse an underage girl.
James McGlothlin, age 39, was arrested late last week after federal agents searched his home and found suspected child pornography and a number of other disturbing items in his garage, according to KOIN6 news.
KOIN reports that McGlothlin’s laptop contained photos and videos of an adult man and a female toddler with the man’s face not visible to the camera, freeze frame images of the toddler “in a state of undress,” and an essay in which McGlothlin narrates the alleged sexual abuse shown in the video and makes detailed plans to heighten the abuse in the future.
The essay lays out plans to babysit three children, drugging the two older ones for an opportunity to abuse the youngest. The plan called for children’s Benadryl medication for use in the scenario; a bottle of Benadryl was also found in a locked filing cabinet next to the laptop, according to KOIN, along with more disturbing items including childrens swimsuits and underpants. You can see the full list of items on the KOIN website here.
A follow-up story from KOIN reports that McGlothlin was a swimming instructor in the Portland area for years, was a high school swim coach until 2013 and was an “adapted physical education” instructor with the Oregon City School District, working with special education students.
In the second KOIN piece, a former swimmer on McGlothlin’s high school team expressed shock at the arrest, saying that “he did tend to hug us more, but nothing creepy.” You can read that story here.
USA Swimming is a corrupt and crony filled organization that will keep covering it’s own butt.
As disturbing as these stories are, I’m glad SWIM SWAM publishes them. The only way to fight this is through full awareness. I wish USA swimming did more – especially is support of the victims.