Bill Estep
Lexington Herald-Leader
MIDDLESBORO, Ky. — A former Kentucky firefighter convicted of receiving child pornography on a department laptop has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
There was evidence that Robert Christopher England, 36, who was a lieutenant at the Middlesboro Fire Department, had more than 600 images of child pornography on the laptop in 2017 and 2018, according to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV.
Some of the images showed sadistic conduct and children under age 12, according to the release.
England was charged in 2018 with theft from a youth football league he was associated with and with exposing himself to a child at Walmart, according to prosecution memorandum.
After police interviewed him about the alleged indecent exposure in June 2018, he went back to the fire department and a co-worker saw him deleting material from the laptop and then leaving the station with it, prosecutors said.
England’s father — the fire chief — and the mayor gave authorities permission to search the laptop, according to court documents.
England was convicted at a trial, but his attorney said in a court document that England maintains his innocence.
The FBI and Kentucky State Police investigated the case.
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