A former Tri-City area radio standout has plead guilty to multiple counts related to child pornography.

James LaPlante, who worked in the Tri-Cities under the air name of Jim O'Brien, was working most recently as a morning man in Anchorage, Alaska under the name of Jimmy O'Brien, for KASH-FM.  He had been the Program Director of the station since 2000.

Anchorage police were tipped off to search his computer after Instagram flagged 13 pictures on his account of sexual exploitation of children. A search of his computer at home revealed over 1,000 images related to child pornography. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified Anchorage police when Instagram notified them an Anchorage-based user had uploaded 13 images of child pornography.  This information was also reported by the website Media Confidential.

He was arrested in December of last year.

LaPlante plead guilty to a consolidated count of distribution of child pornography, and will face 2-12 years in prison. He will also be required to register as a known sex offender for the next 15 years.

The news came as a shock to a number of long-time radio people in the Mid-Columbia, as many knew and some had worked with LaPlante during his time here.

He worked for now-defunct OK-95 (now a country station) as well as other stations in the region during the late 1980's and 90's.  He was a well-known figure on the airwaves for a number of years.

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