Child Porn Charges Filed Against Polk County Fire Rescue Captain

LAKE WALES, FL — Polk County Sheriff's Office computer crimes detectives arrested a Polk County Fire Rescue captain Tuesday afternoon on 25 second-degree felony counts of possession of child pornography and one second-degree felony count of promotion of child pornography after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The center reported to the sheriff's office that they traced child pornography being downloaded to Polk County Fire Rescue Station 26 just before 6 p.m. and again around 6:30 p.m. on May 19, according to a sheriff's affidavit.

Detectives launched an investigation and traced the IP address to Comcast Cable in the Bartow area. They then sent a subpoena request to the Polk County State Attorney's Office to obtain the name of the subscriber from Comcast, according to the sheriff's affidavit.

Finally, around 9 p.m. Sunday, detectives went to the fire station at 2902 State Road 60 E in Lake Wales to confront the subscriber, 40-year-old Polk County Fire Rescue Capt. Brian David Steger, who was on duty at the time, according to the sheriff's report.

Steger admitted to detectives that he set up an internet account in his name at the fire station for his personal use, said detectives. He told detectives that he had an iPhone, a Panasonic Toughbook laptop computer and a Sony PlayStation 5 in the room he stayed in while working overnight shifts at the fire station, according to the affidavit.

He also told detectives that he'd been using file-sharing software called GigaTribe for two to three months after being told about it on a chat site.

When detectives located and began downloading files from Steger's electronic devices at the fire station, they said they immediately found 25 files depicting children as young as 5 years old and as old as 12 being sexually battered.

Detectives seized all of Steger's electronic devices to conduct a more thorough forensic review. Depending on the outcome of the review, Steger could face additional charges, according to the sheriff.

"One of the most important kinds of investigations we do is identifying those who are distributing child pornography," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "Those who download, view and exchange these terrible images and videos fuel the market for exploitative images that are dependent upon the continued and ongoing sexual abuse of children."

Judd lauded the computer crime unit for its work tracing the sources of these crimes.

"I appreciate the hard work our detectives do to locate and charge those in Polk County who download child sex abuse images and videos," he said. "The fact that the person we arrested is a public servant is especially troubling. We will make sure he is held accountable for his actions."

Steger, who has worked for Polk County Fire Rescue since 2003, promptly resigned from his position before he could be fired, Judd said.

He is being held at the Polk County Jail without bond.