Miami Firefighter Accused Of Possessing Child Porn
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A Miami firefighter has been arrested following an investigation performed by the FBI.
Alexander Rousseau, 30, was arrested and charged with possessing and receiving child pornography.
Using special investigative software, authorities said they managed to track the child pornography to Rousseau's laptop computer at a fire station.
The FBI and City of Miami Police Department executed a search warrant on April 6 and discovered the laptop downloading numerous items containing child pornography.
"It really wasn't the firefighter we knew," said Robert Suarez, President of the Miami Association of Firefighters.
Suarez said he was called to Fire Station Number 6 Sunday when the FBI arrived.
He told CBS4's Maggie Newland, "All our paramedic firefighters at the station they had taken all of their phones away which was very unusual. We went to see what was going on and we weren't told anything at all by the authorities." He continued, "We really had very little indication what they were there for until they left with him."
Investigators said the videos were downloaded while Rousseau was at work.
According to documents, Rousseau admitted to downloading and viewing some of the videos on the laptop, but did not admit to searching for them.
Suarez said he was surprised by the allegations. "He's got a pretty good reputation at work. He's a very well respected paramedic firefighter and nobody's really had any indication of anything unusual about him at all."
Suarez added, if the allegations are true, they are disturbing. "It's atrocious. It's obviously horrible and anyone who's guilty of that sort of thing has no business obviously being out of jail and let alone doing what we do."
In a statement by the City of Miami Fire-Rescue, Lt. Ignatius Carroll stated, "The Miami Fire Department takes any allegation against any member of our Department seriously and will continue to work closely with Law Enforcement in their investigation."
Rousseau has been a member of the Department of Fire Rescue since October 2007.
