Editor's Note:
This story has been updated with Mosher's employment status at the Polk Jackson Perry Fire District and comments from a chairperson of that board.
ASHLAND — The chief of Polk Jackson Perry Fire District pleaded not guilty at a bond hearing Friday after being charged with pandering child pornography.
Brandon Mosher, 36, faces a pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person charge, a second-degree felony. Ashland County Sheriff’s Office filed the charge on Friday, a day following Mosher’s arrest.
Ashland County Common Pleas Magistrate Emily Bates set Mosher’s bond at $300,000. She also set a preliminary hearing for Sept. 2.
‘A lot of identifiable victims’
Matt Metcalf, an assistant prosecuting attorney for the Ashland County Prosecutor’s Office, said more charges are on the way.
“Within the last five years, Mr. Mosher has been heavily involved in chat groups and forums related to the circulation of child porn, as well as child sex fantasies,” Metcalf said.
The prosecutor said Mosher would peruse Facebook for photographs of friends with children. He would then allegedly take those photos and post them in chat groups and forums.
“(Mosher was) fabricating stories related to those children and fantasies related to those children — and those are actual children that we have in the community and surrounding communities,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf said the case will likely produce “a lot of identifiable victims” and that it will have a “big impact on the community as a whole.”
Mosher appeared at his bond hearing in a jumpsuit from the Richland County Jail, where he’s been housed since Thursday. He has hired Mansfield-based attorney James Mayer III.
‘Appalled’
Mosher has worked as the part-time chief of Polk Jackson Perry Fire District since June 2015. As of Friday afternoon, Mosher was placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the investigation.
Cheryl Smith, a board of trustee chairperson for the fire district, said she was appalled to learn about the allegation in a press release posted to the fire district’s Facebook page on Friday afternoon.
“We were appalled to learn of the chief’s alleged illegal conduct relating to a minor and/or impaired individual, and we will work law enforcement authorities to assist them in their investigation as needed. We also support the prosecuting attorney’s office in pursuing justice and to protect the health and well-being of minors and/or impaired individuals,” said Smith in the press release.
Smith added that although Mosher is presumed innocent but that he “violated a trust placed in the fire service and in our department, which will not be tolerated if the charges are proven to be true.”
She also noted the fire district is unaware of any illegal activities occurring in conjunction with Mosher’s duties at the district.
Mosher is also employed by the City of Fremont as a fire lieutenant. Officials there said he has been placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the investigation.
The charge stems from Mosher’s arrest at the fire station in Polk on early Thursday. His arrest came following a months-long investigation led by the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
A spokesman for BCI said the sheriff’s office requested the agency’s assistance on Jan. 14.