George Thayer Fowler of Merced, 46, was arrested last Friday afternoon, and was later released from Merced County Jail on his own recognizance, said Deputy District Attorney Bruce Gilbert.
Fowler, who has worked for the police department for several years, is accused of five misdemeanor counts of "sexual exploitation" of children.
He is charged with downloading "43 photos of nude, pre-pubescent and pubescent boys and girls, 39 of which were saved to CD," according to court documents submitted by Anna Hazel, an investigator with the Merced County District Attorney's Office.
"The minors were sexually posed or engaged in various sexual acts with other minors and adult males," the documents read.
Atwater City Manager Greg Wellman said Tuesday that Police Chief Richard Hawthorne was instructed by city officials not to comment about the arrest.
But Wellman, a spokesman for the city, said the police department is cooperating fully with the district attorney's office.
"Upon notification, we made contact with the district attorney's office and we are providing all materials for his office to proceed ahead," Wellman said. "We are doing everything in our means -- as we always have been."
Based on information that Fowler -- who, according to court documents, worked the "midnight shift" -- was viewing child porn at the workplace, monitoring software was installed on all dispatch computers by the Merced County Information Systems Division.
An index of various Internet sites visited by Fowler in November and January were then compiled on CD-ROM.
It was noted in court documents that "50 separate images of various hard-wired and wireless electronic surveillance devices, receivers, and other peripheral items were found," in addition to child toy and furniture Web sites.
According to documents submitted to the court, district attorney's investigators suspect that Fowler might have been surfing for surveillance equipment to place inside children's toys or furniture.
Fowler's residence in the 5000 block of North Franklin Road was searched in January.
At that time, Fowler said he was investigating child porn because he feared his father-in-law might be involved in some illegal activity.
"Fowler denied being interested in or aroused by the photos and stories he viewed on the Internet; however, he admitted that in the months of 11/03 and 12/03 he accessed the child pornography sites daily ... while on duty," the documents read.
Fowler later told investigators that he began viewing the sites because he was not able to "perform" sexually and was looking for arousing material in an attempt to cure his dysfunction.
"Fowler expressed disgust at the content of the sites, but contended he remained 'curious' and viewing the sites became 'like driving by an accident,'" the documents stated.
Former complaints of misconduct dating back to early 2002 were not sustained by former Police Chief Jerry Moore.
Hawthorne, then commander of administrative services for the department, warned Fowler twice that he could not use the computers inappropriately.
District attorney's investigators also interviewed some of Fowler's co-workers and a young female police Explorer scout, or volunteer. All told authorities that there were rumors of Fowler's activities.
The Explorer scout also said she thought it was odd that Fowler kept the door to the dispatcher's office closed at all times.
Fowler is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. March 26 in Merced County Superior Court, where he will enter a plea.
He is currently on paid administrative leave from the department, according to court documents. Reporter Stacey Wiebe can be reached at 385-2455 or swiebe@mercedsun-star.com.
