No charges in firehouse sex
A Spokane firefighter who took explicit pictures of a 16-year-old girl during a firehouse sex fling apparently violated state law by possessing those images, which later were deleted from a digital camera by a police detective.
Washington law makes it a felony to possess pictures showing anyone under 18 involved in “sexually explicit conduct.”
Authorities, including Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession, acknowledge sexually explicit photos were taken of the girl, but prosecutors have declined to pursue criminal charges.
The mayor said “absolutely not” when asked Thursday if deletion of the photos could rise to the level of evidence tampering or destruction.
But Donald Brockett, a former Spokane County prosecutor, said Friday he believes two state laws may have been violated – the statute making it illegal to possess child pornography and a second making it a misdemeanor to “communicate with a minor for immoral purposes.”
“It would appear to me that this conduct could be a violation of either or both statutes,” Brockett said when contacted at his home.
A Spokane police detective and sergeant were called to Station No. 17, in northwest Spokane, in the middle of the night by Acting Police Chief Jim Nicks after the girl’s boyfriend called police and said she had been raped at a city fire station.
The digital pictures and statements given by firefighter Daniel W. Ross apparently led the detective and sergeant to conclude that the sexual encounter between the 35-year-old firefighter and the teenage girl apparently was consensual. The age of consent in Washington is 16.
The detective and sergeant “directed the pictures to be deleted in order to prevent any dissemination of the photos, protecting the interests of the minor female,” Hession said.
Although the photos were deleted and never made it to the prosecutor’s office, a description of those images was included in the detective’s reports, Hession said Friday when asked about the law making possession of child pornography illegal.
It was the decision of Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ed Hay to determine whether any crime had been committed, and he concluded no charges were warranted, the mayor said.
Hay could not be reached for comment.
Greg Borg, president of Firefighters Local 29, said the firefighter involved has a right to due process. “I think they will fire him, nonetheless,” Borg said.
Because the Fire Department currently has 17 women firefighters, rules about having women in station bunkhouses no longer are enforced, Borg said.
“But you don’t have to write all the rules down,” the firefighters union president said. “Everybody knows you don’t do this in the fire station.”
Meanwhile Friday, City Council members Mary Verner and Bob Apple both said they believe it’s time for an outside law enforcement agency to investigate how city police investigated a rape report involving a city firefighter and concluded no laws were broken.
“I would prefer that we have a very neutral third party involved for the validity of this investigation,” Verner said. “The State Patrol would probably be a good place to turn.”
Apple said having the acting police chief examine the actions of two of his detectives is “cops investigating cops.”
“The Police Department already has had one chance at this, and they blew it,” Apple said, referring to the deletion of the sex photos by the police detective and his supervisor.
“I think the destruction of evidence is tantamount to a criminal act in and of itself,” Apple said. “We may have to go to outside agencies to resolve this.”
The mayor, in response, said he is satisfied with waiting for the Police Department’s internal investigation to be concluded.
“We have an internal affairs (unit) in the Police Department that does these kinds of investigations all the time,” Hession said Friday. “It’s an internal watchdog for the Police Department. I would want to see the results of that investigation before agreeing to go to an outside agency.”
City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin, who represents the district where the fire station is located, also said she was satisfied with letting the Police Department’s internal investigation proceed. “My desire is for the truth to come out.”
McLaughlin said she has heard from voters who don’t understand why the firefighter hasn’t been fired for his confessed conduct. “They ask me, ‘Why is this guy being put on administrative leave with pay?’ ”
The newly elected councilwoman said she understands that city employees are protected by Civil Service rules and union contracts and are entitled to due process, but hopes the month-old case is quickly concluded.
“What I’d like to know is, where were the other firefighters when this was going on in the station,” she said.
The Spokesman-Review has learned the identities of the two other firefighters at the station the night of the incident. They didn’t return phone calls for comment on Friday.
Councilman Brad Stark said he has a “sense of frustration” over the conduct of the firefighter and knew too little about the detective’s actions to comment.
“The actions of one firefighter should not influence the public’s perception of the firefighters we have in this city,” Stark said. “We have world-class firefighters in our city.”
The council’s newest member, Rob Crow, said he wanted to “wait and see” the outcome of companion internal investigations examining the conduct of the firefighter and the police officers. “It’s too premature for me to have an opinion,” Crow said.
The city’s newest sex scandal surfaced three months after its former mayor was recalled from office by 65 percent of the voters after engaging in on-line sexual discussions with young men and offering some of them city jobs and appointments.