Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A Missouri firefighter has been sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for making child pornography in a fire station.
Nicholas James Dickerson, 30, of Branson, reportedly took the images as he was sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl on February 9, 2015. Dickerson worked as an EMT for Western Taney County Fire Protection District, where he also served as a volunteer firefighter. The sexual abuse took place in a fire station in Branson where Dickerson lived.
According to an FBI press release:
Dickerson sold his iPhone to a Nixa, Mo., business on Feb. 9, 2015. After the transaction was complete, an employee of the business noticed that the “deleted pictures folder” was still present on the screen. The employee saw an image of child pornography and alerted the store owner, who contacted law enforcement.
Investigators identified the nine-year-old victim in the image. Dickerson told investigators that he took the photo while sexually abusing the child victim in his living quarters at the fire station, and that he sexually abused the victim on multiple occasions. Dickerson also told investigators he had shown pornography to the child victim.
Dickerson was sentenced this week to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without the possibility of parole. Upon his release in 2038, he will be subject to supervised release for the rest of his life.
It is unclear why both the US Attorney’s Office and the FBI web site repeatedly refer to this as a case of a perpetrator creating child pornography in a fire station as opposed to a perpetrator sexually abusing a 9-year old child in a fire station. That’s just me…
