Fort Lauderdale firefighter arrested on child porn charges, police say
A Fort Lauderdale firefighter was arrested Thursday on child pornography charges after “images on computer devices were found,” said Otishia Browning-Smith, a Sunrise police spokeswoman.
Patrick Ryan, 43, was being held Thursday night in Broward’s main jail on 11 counts of possessing obscene material.
According to Browning-Smith, a search warrant was served at his home in the 4000 block of Northwest 93rd Avenue at 6 a.m. Thursday.
The department became aware of Ryan earlier this month after being flagged by the FBI, Browning-Smith said.
It was not immediately known what led the FBI to Ryan.
Ryan has been with the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department since 2009 and is a driver engineer, the department confirmed.
“Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue was notified early Thursday morning, that an employee had been arrested by Sunrise Police. The employee was not on duty at the time of the arrest and was immediately placed on administrative leave. Further disciplinary action from our agency will be pending the outcome of the criminal investigation,” the department said in a statement Thursday night. “It is important to know that the accused actions of this single employee in no way represents the values or integrity of the more than 400 men and women of Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 11:34 PM.
