Oakland fire captain being held on $200,000 bond

Chew allegedly shared more than 600 images, including 125 pictures with an undercover sheriff’s deputy

OAKLAND » An Oakland fire captain was arrested Wednesday night and charged with sharing more than 600 images of child pornography after investigators searching his fire house found illegal materials on his personal laptop and other storage devices, authorities said.

Capt. Richard Chew, 58, is being held in Contra Costa jail in Martinez on $200,000 bail for the two felonies — distributing child porn and possessing it. At his first appearance Thursday afternoon in Contra Costa Superior Court in Martinez, Chew stood mostly hidden in a courtroom holding cell while Judge John Laettner denied a request to lower his bail or release him on his own recognizance. Chew could face up to five years in prison if found guilty of the felonies.

“Over 600 images are alleged,” the judge said in his reasoning behind denying a release. “The court needs to look at the injuries to victims … and the child exploitation of many children.”

According to a search warrant affidavit, on Aug. 19 Chew allegedly shared 195 files with an undercover sheriff’s deputy, and at least three of those files contained images or video of children ages 4 to 8 performing sex acts.

“The fact that the children are of that age is dangerous to me,” prosecutor Jordan Sanders said outside of court. “Because they are so young speaks volumes to the exploitative nature.”

Investigators and detectives with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office searched Chew’s Lafayette home on Aug. 29, seizing an external computer hard drive and Samsung cellphone, but did not find child pornography on the devices, according to court records.

Minh Vu, a detective with the Sheriff’s Office, wrote in a search warrant affidavit that during the search, they interviewed Chew’s live-in girlfriend, who said she was out of town on a business trip on Aug. 19 and that Chew was supposedly the only person home.

“( The girlfriend) stated that he owned and used a personal black laptop which had a fire department logo sticker on it,” Vu wrote. “Richard was known to take it to work with him at the fire station.”

Two days later, members of the Contra Costa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force located the laptop while searching Station 15 at 455 27th Street in Oakland, according to court records. The laptop contained illegal material, authorities said. They also seized two thumb drives that contained child porn.

Interim fire Chief Darin White, in a statement issued Thursday morning, said Chew was immediately placed on administrative leave once Oakland officials learned of the investigation.

“I am appalled by the disturbing nature of these charges,” White said. “If the allegations are true, this criminal behavior violates our community’s standard of decency and breaches the standard of conduct we uphold in the Oakland Fire Department.”

Chew, who has worked for the Oakland department for 28 years, had apparently no prior personnel issues and appeared to be diligent about reporting buildings that lacked required fire safety equipment, including raising an alarm about extremely dangerous conditions at a San Pablo Avenue apartment complex that served as a halfway house for very low income tenants.

Those efforts made headlines in March after four people perished in a fire at the building. Emails obtained by this newspaper show that Chew, along with other Oakland firefighters, repeatedly warned fire inspectors that the building had serious fire danger issues, but they were ignored until just a few days before the deadly fire.

“I recommend that we consider shutting this building down immediately due to the danger to life safety,” Chew wrote in a Jan. 8 email about the building at 2551 San Pablo Ave. that was forwarded to Fire Marshal Miguel Trujillo and Assistant Fire Marshal Maria Sabatini. Chew also reported open piles of garbage in the structure and a padlocked fire escape.

The building was finally inspected March 24, only three days before the deadly blaze. The Chew email and others helped prompt a massive overhaul of the fire department’s inspection bureau, including hiring more inspectors.

From 2011 to early this year, Chew made 49 referrals to fire inspectors to check up on fire dangers at Oakland proper- ties, according to department data.

Last year, he had a total compensation package of $300,000, according to Transparent California.

In 2009, the Oakland City Council honored Chew and other firefighters for their swift water rescue at a fatal traffic accident scene at Hegenberger Road and Hamilton Street on Nov. 1, 2008.

At Thursday’s court appearance, Chew’s defense attorney, Peter Orth, asked the judge to release his client, citing his long Oakland Fire Department tenure, lack of criminal record and Army service. Orth said Chew had received an Army Commendation Medal.

Orth declined to comment outside the courtroom.

“Despite his accolades, he’s still actively downloading child pornography,” Sanders told the judge.

Chew spoke brief ly when waiving his right to a speedy arraignment, answering the judge twice, saying: “Yes, your honor.” He will appear back in court Sept. 17.