A local firefighter has been accused of trading child pornography online with people across the country. Ben Keziah was arrested on Thursday.
The charges have stunned the Monroe's Fire Station 3 where the Marshville man has worked for three years. Although his picture still hangs on the wall at the fire department's headquarters, Keziah has been suspended without pay.
Monroe City Manager Craig Meadows said if the allegations prove to be true, Keziah will no longer be employed by the city.
Asst. Chief Danny Smith with the Monroe Fire Department broke the news of the charges to fellow firefighters, who were caught completely off guard.
"I'm shocked," Smith said.
According to state agents, agents all over the country have been tracking child pornography for months and they kept finding sexually explicit images of children under 10 years old that could be traced back to the same computer. The images and videos were linked to the computer nearly 500 times.
That computer, they said, was in the Marshville house Keziah shares with his wife.
On Wednesday agents seized the suspected computer, tapes, DVDs and cameras from the home.
Keziah, who was on vacation at Myrtle Beach, was picked up and charged with possession of child pornography Thursday. He was taken to the Union County Sheriff's Office and then released by a Union County magistrate without bond.
Jessie McClain, who lives next door to Keziah, didn't even know about the charges.
"I don't know what to think," she said. "It's just something stunning."
Eyewitness News tried to get in touch with Ben Keziah to get his side of the story, but no one answered the door at his home or answered the phone.
Agents said they believe Keziah was involved in a peer-to-peer file sharing group. They said adults from all over the world allow others access to their computers over the internet to trade illegal child pornography images.
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