Sept. 20--ELON -- An incident in which an Elon firefighter is charged with taking indecent liberties with a juvenile was said to have happened in a relatively open area -- making it difficult for town policies to have prevented the situation from occurring, the town attorney said.
Nicolas James Campbell, 30, of 2136 Carroll Drive in Elon, was charged Sept. 5 with felony indecent liberties with a child, and resigned Tuesday from his position as a town firefighter and EMT. He is accused of exposing himself genitals to a female victim under the age of 16, making her handle his genitals and kissing her on the lips. The incident is alleged to have occurred during a July 9 event at fire station No. 1 on Williamson Avenue in the fire bays -- the garage area -- while the bay doors were open, said town attorney Joe Kalo, of Wishart Norris Henninger & Pittman.
Elon Police Chief Cliff Parker said the department received a complaint about the incident July 27 and contacted the State Bureau of Investigation for assistance, since the case involved a town employee.
Kalo said the town has a sexual harassment policy in place for its employees, but nothing that would have addressed this specific situation.
"The location where it's alleged to have occurred is in an open area where people could walk by," Kalo said. "There's no way that the town's sexual harassment policy could have addressed this, because it's an assault."
He said even if a town policy had already been in place regarding interactions with minors -- addressing what goes on behind a closed door or when in isolation -- it most likely wouldn't have prevented an adult employee and a juvenile from being in a garage area at the same time. Kalo said there is traffic on the road in front of the fire bays, and, presumably, people are walking in and out of that area frequently.
"Suffice it to say, it would be hard to have a policy that said an employee can't interact with a minor in an open space where people are passing through," he said.
Kalo said the town would be "re-evaluating all of its policies in light of the incident," and is waiting to see the outcome of the allegations.
"The town is obviously very concerned about it," he said. "We're waiting to see how the judicial process plays out."
Copyright 2013 - Times-News, Burlington, N.C.
