Chief may fire officer for viewing Web porn

By AMY WIMMER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 13, 2001

ST. PETE BEACH -- The fire chief is expected to recommend firing a lieutenant accused of accessing pornography on city computers, pending the outcome of a meeting Tuesday between the chief, the firefighter and his lawyer.

A 767-page internal affairs investigation released Friday revealed that Lt. Crist Fellman, a former Florida Emergency Medical Technician of the Year who has been with the department for 20 years, visited Web porn sites and participated in sexually explicit chat rooms while on duty.

Allegations against Fellman initially included charges that he also accessed child pornography on Fire Department computers. But St. Pete Beach police Capt. Todd Kirchgraber, who did the investigation, said that charge was unfounded.

Investigators did uncover materials that fall into a category called "child erotica," but they were not pornographic.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement analysis of two Fire Department computers recovered 308 sexually explicit images from the hard drives. One hard drive was confiscated from a fire station in north St. Pete Beach; the other came from the Pass-a-Grille station.

Fire Chief Fred Golliner will meet with Fellman Tuesday to discuss his recommendation that the firefighter, whom Golliner helped get hired in the early 1980s, be terminated.

The State Attorney's Office is reviewing the case to determine whether criminal charges will be filed. Investigators there did not return phone calls Friday, but Golliner said the office is still investigating.

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