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KAYSVILLE — A Kaysville firefighter was arrested Tuesday at work and accused of having a sexual conversation with an undercover officer pretending to be a teenage girl.
Andrew Austin Leonard, 29, was booked into the Weber County Jail for investigation of enticing a minor over the internet and dealing in materials harmful to a minor.
Leonard is accused of beginning a conversation Jan. 7 with an undercover officer from the Roy Police Department posing online as a 13-year-old girl. The conversation turned sexual in nature, and at one point Leonard said he would go to jail but still asked for explicit photographs, a police booking affidavit states.
"Austin would make comments about the person, stating, 'You're very brave!' and making statements about wanting to see" explicit photos, adding, 'You can do it. Be brave,'" the affidavit alleges.
The Roy police officer used background details from several photographs sent by Leonard and a social media platform to identify who he was and where he worked, according to the affidavit. The officer noted that he believes Leonard took the photos while at work.
When the officer went to the fire station to arrest Leonard, he admitted asking for explicit photos and and having a sexual conversation with the "girl" while at his job, the affidavit states.
A statement from Kaysville Fire Department said Leonard was fired after his arrest.
"Any allegation of a crime against children must be taken seriously. Such allegations are extremely rare, and when one occurs, we take immediate action," the statement said.
The department said it regularly trains employees on recognizing and preventing sexual harassment.
