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Fire chief will get counseling after porn incident

He was not accused of downloading the pornography, but of bringing an unsecured laptop onto city property where someone else could misuse it.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published June 27, 2006

CLEARWATER - A division fire chief who brought a personal laptop into the workplace where it was later used to view pornography will receive written counseling, city officials said.

Richard Riley, division chief of operations for Clearwater Fire Rescue, must also remove the computer. Riley, 41, was not accused of downloading the pornography, but of bringing an unsecured laptop onto city property where someone else could misuse it.

"His only crime is not accounting for the computer," said the city's human resources director, Joe Roseto.

Officials have been unable to determine who used the computer or how many inappropriate Web sites were viewed on it. Someone deleted scores of files, making it difficult to retrace the computer's activity.

However, a group of records dated between July and September 2005 showed numerous inappropriate sites had been visited on consecutive days, which, because of the schedules firefighters work, indicates more than one person was using the computer for this purpose, Roseto said.

Riley, who could not be reached for comment on Monday, brought the laptop to the department's training center in June 2005 after firefighters complained they needed more computers, officials have said. It was apparently there that someone used a city phone line to access the Internet.

Lt. Anna Rowell was using the laptop for work purposes on June 13 when she stumbled upon several thumbnail images of pornographic movies and immediately turned off the laptop, officials said. The following day, she reported her finding to city officials, who seized the computer and opened an investigation.

In light of the case, Roseto said city policy should be revised to prohibit anyone from connecting a personal computer to any city utility.

[Last modified June 27, 2006, 07:16:57]