A firefighter pleaded not guilty Wednesday to downloading child pornography while he was at work at a Los Angeles County Fire Department station in El Monte.
Matthew David Winters, 51, is charged with one felony count of possession of child pornography and one misdemeanor count of destroying or concealing evidence.
Winters is accused of downloading the pornography to a computer at a fire station in El Monte from last December through this May. He allegedly destroyed a computer hard drive in an attempt to conceal evidence, according to Deputy District Attorney Teresa de Castro.
Superior Court Judge Gustavo Sztraicher ordered Winters -- who is free on bail -- not to possess any pornography or use the Internet to download pornography and not to have any unsupervised contact with minors other than his own child.
Winters faces up to 5 1/2 years in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
After the charges were filed against Winters in July, a county fire inspector declined to discuss Winters' status with the department or to address the charges, citing "the sensitive nature" of the case.
