An Englewood firefighter has been fired amid a criminal investigation into allegations he viewed child pornography on a firehouse computer while on duty.
Officials dismissed Carmen DeLeone, 42, on Tuesday, Tom Vandermee, Englewood’s acting director of safety services said today. Vandermee said investigators also executed search warrants at a fire station and at DeLeone’s Fort Collins home Tuesday.
While DeLeone has not been arrested or charged, Vandermee said DeLeone was fired after a concurrent administrative investigation.
“We found sufficient cause to terminate him,” Vandermee said.
The investigations began on July 9, when Vandermee said investigators at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contacted Englewood detectives and told them a computer in the city had been used to looked at two pornographic images of girls. Vandermee said the center had confirmed the girls in the picture were under 18 years old.
Englewood detectives tracked the computer to a fire station at 3075 S. Tejon St., and the investigation determined that DeLeone had used the computer to access the images, Vandermee said.
Englewood detectives interviewed DeLeone on Tuesday, but Vandermee said he was released as the investigation continues. It could take a couple more weeks for authorities to complete the investigation and decide whether DeLeone should be charged, Vandermee said.
Vandermee said officials believe the case is an isolated incident and that no other employees had knowledge of or were involved with accessing the pictures.
DeLeone had been a firefighter in Englewood since 2004. For the past two years, he worked as the department’s child safety-seat coordinator.
“There is no information in this investigation and no evidence to suggest that he has had any illegal or illicit contact with any child,” Vandermee said. “It is strictly limited to his viewing images on the Internet.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
