A former member of the Powell Volunteer Fire Department has been sentenced to serve three and a half to five years in prison for downloading child pornography on a fire department computer in late 2009.

On Wednesday, 44-year-old Dwayne “Doug” Leichner pleaded no contest to five felony counts of possession of child pornography and received the prison sentence from Park County District Court Judge Steven Cranfill. Leichner must also pay $835 in crime victim compensation and fees as part of his sentence.

The no contest pleas and sentence were the result of an agreement Leichner reached with the Park County Attorney’s office.

Fourteen additional counts of possessing child pornography were dismissed as part of the deal. Also included in the arrangement was an agreement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Cheyenne that it will not pursue federal child pornography charges against Leichner in connection with the images.

Deputy Park County Attorney Tim Blatt, who prosecuted the case, said the three-and-a-half- to five-year prison term was in line with what Leichner would have received under federal sentencing guidelines.

The close to a year of jail time Leichner has served since his Jan. 25, 2010 arrest will be put toward his prison sentence.

Leichner did not speak during the hearing except to answer routine questions from the judge. The affidavit of probable cause submitted in the case was used as the basis for Leichner’s guilt.

The affidavit, written by Lt. Dave Patterson of the Park County Sheriff’s Department, says Powell fire department personnel brought the computer to law enforcement after becoming suspicious of Leichner’s frequent use of the fire hall computer and finding it had been used to download questionable files and visit questionable sites.

When Patterson later searched the computer’s hard drive, he found more than 7,000 images of various types of pornography had been accessed on the night of Dec. 28, 2009. After sorting through about a third of the images in search of obvious child pornography, Patterson identified more than 110 apparent illegal images, the document says.

Patterson testified at a preliminary hearing that the images that led to charges against Leichner were “a sampling” of those on the hard drive.

In getting a conviction, Blatt gave a lot of credit to the interview Lt. Patterson had with Leichner a year ago. Blatt noted that, unlike most computer crime cases, the fire department’s machine was easily accessible by a number of different people.

But in the interview with Patterson, Leichner admitted accessing a variety of explicit adult content on the computer on the night of Dec. 28. While Leichner denied ever intentionally accessing any child pornography, Blatt said his admissions to Patterson — plus a statement from Leichner’s estranged girlfriend that she saw him on the computer that night — placed Leichner on the computer when the illegal content was accessed. Further, Blatt said computer records showed some of the child pornography was accessed in between visits to adult sites Leichner specifically admitted having accessed.

“Had he (Patterson) not done a pretty darn good interview with Mr. Leichner and the other people that had access (to the computer), this would have been a very difficult case,” Blatt said.

He said the investigation gave him no reason to believe anyone else had accessed any illegal content on the machine.

Blatt thanked the fire department for their cooperation, particularly in immediately turning over the computer.

Powell Fire Chief Joey Darrah, who attended the sentencing hearing, said afterwards that Leichner had betrayed the department and his friends with his actions, and he said a sickness had caused Leichner to do it. Prior to the case, access to the fire department’s computer had been based on an honor system, Darrah said, where anyone was trusted to use it.

In the time since Leichner’s arrest, the fire hall has been equipped with electronic locks and keys which log each fireman’s entry into the building, the door to the computer room is kept locked and access to the computer is limited to only three or four individuals who must use their fingerprints to log on, Darrah said.

“It (the system based on trust) has been taken away because of this,” Darrah said. “It’s unfortunate, but it was necessary so it doesn’t happen again.”

The fire chief said Leichner’s sentencing was a bittersweet moment: a relief for the fire department to have the case over with, but sad to see Leichner — who spent six or seven years as a well-liked, hard-working fireman — headed to prison.

“He’s not a bad guy. He just needs help,” Darrah said. “I hope he gets it.”