City firefighter arrested in Virginia on sex charges
A city firefighter was charged this week with multiple sex offenses, including two involving a minor.
The firefighter was identified in an FBI investigation as Brian Kosanovich; he was arrested Tuesday by federal agents in Virginia.
Mr. Kosanovich, 50, has been charged with coercion and enticement, taking indecent liberties with children, and use of a communications system to facilitate offenses involving children.
He was charged by federal complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia following an investigation by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force out of the Richmond field office. He appeared briefly on Wednesday before a U.S. magistrate judge in
Richmond, who ordered him detained. Typically in such cases, the U.S. attorney’s office will now seek a grand jury indictment.
“He was immediately removed from duty and placed on unpaid administrative leave pending an administrative investigation,” according to a release from Pittsburgh public safety officials.
According to a federal criminal complaint, FBI agents created an undercover profile on a website used for “alternative forms of sexual relationships” and responded to subjects who were interested in meeting with a female minor.
Mr. Kosanovich, under the username “bk11t,” engaged with the agents and indicated a preference for “moms” and “daughters,” the complaint reads.
Mr. Kosanovich first contacted the undercover profile on Nov. 14 and expressed in graphic terms what he wanted to do with the little girl and the mother, according to an FBI affidavit. In the chats, he talked directly to the person he thought was the 10-year-old girl, asking her what she liked to do sexually and what he wanted to do to her. He also paid for sex toys for the mother and daughter and then arranged to travel to Chesterfield County, Va., to meet up for sex, according to the complaint.
Transcripts of the messages show Mr. Kosanovich asked agents for pictures of the 10-year-old girl, sent pictures of his genitals, and asked to engage in sexual acts with the mother and daughter. An undercover agent also spoke to Mr.
Kosanovich by phone, posing as the mother.
Federal agents said Mr. Kosanovich self-identified as “Brian,” sent a picture of himself, said he worked as a firefighter and claimed to live in Pittsburgh.
The criminal complaint says investigators arranged for a meeting at a Chili’s in Virginia and arrested Mr. Kosanovich when he approached a vehicle undercover agents set up as a meeting point.
A statement from Pittsburgh public safety officials said the charges against Mr. Kosanovich “are deeply disturbing.”
“As this is an ongoing case, we will have no further comment at this time,” officials said.