TRIAL SET IN SEX ABUSE CASE

WALLA WALLA - Carl G. Bell Jr., the 31-year-old Walla Walla man who took up residence at 519 Coppei Ave., in Waitsburg, this summer, pleaded innocent in Walla Walla County Superior Court to 15 felony charges earlier this week. Bell is scheduled for trial Nov. 3 and 4 on three counts of first-degree rape of a child, two counts of sexual exploita­tion of a minor, and 10 counts of first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Walla Walla police have accused Bell of taking inap­propriate pictures of a 10-year-old girl whom he had been e-mailing from an account he set up posing as a modeling agency. Later, she was allegedly told to submit nude pic­tures

of herself, recruit her minor friends to do the same and send the images to Bell at his e-mail address.

Police also allege Bell shot digital stills and video foot­age of him and the girl having sex sometime in June and August. They also believe Bell persuaded the girl to take several pictures of a different girl in naked poses at a park in Waitsburg in late August, and they suspect him of trying to solicit a third girl to send nude pictures to the e-mail ad­dress. Bell was arrested last week and remains in county jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.