RELATED: FBI arrests Bethel Twp. firefighter on child porn charges
“He will never be in position to hurt a kid again,” Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson said. “To see a guy like that take advantage of a child, this was a guy who needed to be punished and punished severely.”
Risner was arrested last year when Clark County deputies assisted FBI agents in executing a search warrant at Risner’s home on Prentice Drive and his business, Rescue 1 Custom Vinyls, 412 N. Main St.
The Clark County Prosecutor’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dayton worked together to make sure Risner received the toughest penalty possible, Wilson said, and an example of good cooperation.
“In this case there was a child pornography to be prosecuted in federal court and then there was the child rape that we prosecuted locally in Clark County,” he said.
The FBI and the sheriff’s office obtained evidence during their investigation that “showed James Risner exchanging explicit sexually oriented material involving a child with undercover agents,” according to the court records.
Risner had been employed as a volunteer firefighter with the Bethel Twp. Fire Department in Clark County for about two years, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Ludwick has said.
“This was a surprise and the fire department and the township, obviously we don’t condone this kind of behavior,” Ludwick previously told the Springfield News-Sun.
The fact that Risner had served as a firefighter and had taken advantage of children also was a reason he deserved a severe sentence, Wilson said.
“We teach our kids that firefighters are heroes,” he said.
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