Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A North Carolina fire captain who was caught with child pornography on his fire department computer, has been sentenced to 51 months in prison.
Aaron Lanning, 39, plead guilty last week to five counts of Third Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. WSPA.com New quoted District Attorney Greg Newman as saying: “The images portrayed young boys and girls engaged in a variety of sexual acts and lewd poses. Their ages ranged from 5 to 11. I wish I knew who produced this filth. Clearly, these kids are being abused and exploited for the gratification of sick individuals. What I saw was appalling.”
Investigators in another part of the country identified Lanning as participating in a chat room where he expressed his interest in underage children. That led federal and local law enforcement to confront Lanning and search his computer at the Fletcher Fire Department. The search found sexually explicit images of underage children.
Lanning was fired by the Fletcher Fire Department in 2014, but not indicted until May of 2015. More on the sentence.
Here is a video on his indictment in 2015.
