June 01--A now-former Kernersville fire marshal charged with taking indecent liberties with a child is accused of taking photographs of a naked girl on and inside a fire truck at the Kernersville Fire Rescue Department, according to search warrant filed Friday.
Timothy Scott Swaim, 46, of the 3700 block of Flat Rock Road in Kernersville, was arrested April 29 on a charge that he took a picture of a naked 15-year-old girl, an arrest warrant states. The felony offense is alleged to have occurred in November 2008.
Swaim resigned his position with the department on April 19 for personal reasons, he stated. It was a job he had held for 18 years. Swaim received $55,413 a year as the fire marshal, a Kernersville city official said. The fire marshal investigates the causes of fires and enforces fire prevention laws.
Swaim couldn't be reached for comment Friday.
George Cleland III of Winston-Salem, Swaim's attorney, said that his client is aware of the accusations against him, and that none of the photographs in the case are pornographic.
An agent with the State Bureau of Investigation outlined the criminal case against Swaim in the search warrant that was executed at Swaim's home in late April. The agent returned the search warrant Friday to the Forsyth County Hall of Justice.
The agent said that the girl told him in October 2011 that Swaim had taken nude photos of her at his house when she was 15, according to the warrant. On one occasion, Swaim took pictures of the girl topless wearing fire bunker pants with red suspenders, the warrant stated. Swaim put the photos on his computer, according to the agent.
The girl also stated that Swaim took nude pictures of her and another girl body painting each other, according to the warrant. At one point, Swaim took nude pictures of the 15-year-old girl "at the Kernersville Fire Department in and on one of the fire trucks," the warrant stated.
Swaim later emailed the photos to the girl, the warrant stated. Swaim turned over a computer hard drive that contained the photos to the SBI agent.
Authorities seized several other desktop computers and laptop computers and three digital cameras from Swaim's home, according to the warrant.
Terry Crouse, the chief of the Kernersville Fire Rescue Department, couldn't be reached for comment. Deputy Chief Ken Anderson said, "Officials at Kernersville Fire Rescue have not had contact with Mr. Swaim since his arrest in late April."
Swaim is scheduled to appear in court July 18.
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Copyright 2013 - Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.
