Probe snares Cal Fire workers

Cal Fire placed 16 fire academy workers on paid administrative leave Monday after the estranged wife of a slaying suspect accused his firefighter colleagues of having videotaped sex with prostitutes on department property.

The suspensions involved violations of state or department policies mostly by academy instructors, but they were not related to the sex allegations, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“Nothing substantiat- ed the allegations of a sex tape,” Berlant said.

The independent investigation began in May after the arrest of Orville “Moe” Fleming, a 55year-old former fire battalion chief on charges that he stabbed and killed his girlfriend, Sarah Douglas, 26.

Douglas was working as a paid escort two years ago when she met Fleming, and the two moved into the south Sacramento home where she was killed, officials said. Fleming was captured after more than two weeks on the run and later “admitted culpability,” Sacramento County sheriff ’s au- thorities said.

Fleming’s estranged wife, Meagan Fleming, subsequently told reporters and investigators that her husband and multiple other firefighters had sex with prostitutes and videotaped the escapades at Cal Fire’s training station in Ione (Amador County). She said she had viewed a video showing the victim having sex with firefighters on firetrucks.

California Highway Patrol investigators were called in to investigate the prostitution and sex-tape allegations against Fleming’s colleagues.

“The preliminary information from them was that those allegations were not substantiated, but they did find other unrelated violations from 16 employees,” said Berlant, who referred to them as “policy violations” but did not disclose the nature or seriousness of the infringements. “They were not related to the allegations that were made by Mr. Flemings ex-wife.”

Berlant said the fire academy instructors include fire captains, division chiefs and students. He did not say whether the alleged violations had anything to do with sex, just that they were not related to the allegations made by Fleming’s estranged wife. The final results of the investigation are expected to be released in the next couple of weeks, Berlant said.