North Whidbey resident Errol Soderquist was arrested on a $10,000 warrant last month as he stepped off a plane at Sea-Tac Airport.

Soderquist, 34, was charged in Island County Superior Court April 15 with a single count of possession of child pornography. He was taken into custody after returning from working on a fishing boat off China.

Detective Sgt. Mike Beech of the Island County Sheriff’s Office said Soderquist had over 5,000 pornographic images on compact discs found his bedroom. Beech said the majority of the images are of children engaged in sexually explicit activity, which were likely downloaded from the Internet.

According to Beech’s report, Soderquist’s ex-wife was taking care of Soderquist’s Fort Nugent home and found CDs on a night stand marked with suspicious language. The woman said she was especially concerned because they have joint custody of their children, court records show.

Beech said he got a search warrant for the compact discs March 20 and found the child pornography.

In addition, Beech said Soderquist was detained by Customs agents, who seized the laptop he brought with him on the airplane. Soderquist could face federal charges if there’s child pornography on the portable computer, according to Beech.

Even though Soderquist showed no signs of illness, the Sheriff’s Office was cautious in handling the man because he had returned from China, where the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is most prevalent. Beech said Soderquist had to wear a breathing mask in the jail until a nurse could check him out.