Trial date is set for Spada

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, April 6th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

WALLA WALLA – A trial date has been set for June 28 for the child molestation trial against Walla Walla firefighter and paramedic Anthony Joel Spada, 47. He entered a not guilty plea on Monday afternoon in Walla Walla County Superior Court to charges of first- and second-degree child molestation and communicating with a child for immoral purposes.

Spada was arrested last month after a 14-year-old female reported to her counselor that he had been touching her sexually and making her watch pornographic videos with him since she was 10. The arrest by the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office came after a request was received from the Walla Walla Police Department asking it to investigate a report from Child Protective Services regarding child abuse.

After his arrest, Spada was placed on administrative leave and instructed to stay out of city offices and not to contact any city employees pending an investigation. At that time he was released on his own recognizance with those directives.

At his arraignment on Monday, those conditions changed. He is now to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. A pre-trial no-contact order has also been put into place to protect the 14-year-old victim, which also requires Spada to not come within 500 feet of the victim’s home, school, or workplace.