A two-week trial has been scheduled in August for a Sequim man accused of attempted sexual exploitation of children.

The trial tentatively begins Monday, Aug. 4 for Craig A. Gallauher, 52, with a status hearing set for 9 a.m. July 18.

Through his appointed defense attorney Seth Doherty, Gallauher pleaded not guilty at his June 25 arraignment hearing in Clallam County Superior Court to two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, and a count of attempted possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the second degree.

All three felonies have a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

His bail was previously set at $20,000.

Gallauher was arrested June 13 following an investigation by Clallam County Sheriff’s Office deputies who had conducted forensic interviews of a 9-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl.

The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office detectives’ Probable Cause report states that the boy said he’d known Gallauher most of his life and had gone biking and fishing with him before.

Gallauher was a friend of the families and the children had been dropped off at his campsite for a visit, according to detectives.

Court documents state that sometime between March 15 and April 15, the children were fishing by the Dungeness River and asked Gallauher, who was living at a campsite there, to go with them but Gallauher allegedly said he would do so only if they removed their clothes, allowed him to take pictures of them, and sat in a dirt circle by a tree that he referred to as a “sex chair.”

The children said they felt uncomfortable and yelled, and they left. One child said Gallauher told them monsters would come and get them if they didn’t come back, court documents state.

According to detectives, the boy told them he “never thought he would do that to me and my friend.”

The boy’s father said he learned of the incident weeks after it happened and reported the incident on June 5 to the Sequim Police Department, court documents state.

Detectives searched near the Dungeness Railroad Bridge Park and found a campsite that matched the description provided by the children, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

Gallauher was arrested in Sequim.

Along with setting the trial date, Judge Simon Barnhart signed protection orders for the two children on June 25.