Indiana Firefighter Charged in Connection with Teen Sex Video

A 19-year-old Indiana firefighter, Thomas Hibbs, is facing several charges after a video of two teenagers having sex made the rounds of a Johnson County high school. Through e-mail, a cellphone-captured video of a 14-year-old male and a 15-year-old female engaging in a sexual act was passed from cellphone to cellphone at Indian Creek High School this past week. When authorities were notified, they rounded up five students at the school. After subsequent questioning, Thomas Hibbs was brought in as well.

According to WTHR in Indianapolis, the 17-year-old who secretly took the video did so from a hole in the bedroom door -- the doorknob was missing -- of the trailer where an underage teenage drinking party occurred last Saturday (March 14). Another teen assisted him. The 17-year-old faces juvenile charges as well as expulsion from school. It is unclear if any child pornography charges will be leveled.

Johnson County officials are sure that far more than five students were involved in watching and distributing the sex video. Johnson County Sheriff's spokesman, Colonel Doug Cox said, "It is our understanding that when law enforcement entered the school, that a mass email went out to everybody who was involved in all this, basically delete the video, the police are onto us type of thing. So it went from funny I'm sure to immediately not so funny."

From the teens, Johnson County officials pieced together the story of the underage drinking party. When police arrived at the scene in Nineveh, empty beer bottles and beer kegs still littered the area in and around the trailer. The boys also told investigators that Thomas Hibbs, a Nineveh volunteer firefighter, has hosted the party.

When Thomas Hibbs was brought in Thursday for questioning, he admitted that he had hosted the underage drinking party. "He also admitted to investigators today," Cox said, "that not only did he furnish alcohol to these children, but he also had sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old victim in this case."

According to the IndyStar.com, Johnson County Sheriff's Major Steve Byerly said that Thomas Hibbs admitted to hosting the party at his sister's Nineveh trailer. Hibbs collected money for the alcohol and gave the money to another 21-year-old to purchase. Police are investigating the allegations against the 21-year-old for purchasing the alcohol and may press additional charges.

Hibbs faces charges of sexual misconduct with a minor, giving alcohol to a minor, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The Nineveh Fire Chief has placed Thomas Hibbs on inactive status until the matter is resolved and said that if convicted, Hibbs will be terminated.

In another firefighting sex tape incident, 32-year-old Matthew Phillips, a firefighter for Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, heard the testimony of John Doe 1 against him in Sonoma County Superior Court in 2007. CBS5 reported that John Doe 1 testified that Phillips, while coordinator for a teenage Explorer program, videotaped him when he was 17 having sex on top of a fire truck. He also testified that he had witnessed a sex video of at least one other teen having sex with a girl in Phillips' home.

According to John Doe 1, Phillips maintained a safe haven for teens to have sex, drink alcohol (which Phillips provided), and watch pornographic videos. This occurred from the time John Doe 1 joined the Explorer program at the age of 14 or 15. John Doe 1, after turning 18, moved in Phillips' residence.

Matthew Phillips, a former Sonoma County police officer and volunteer fire captain, was charged with the taping, showing and distribution of minors having sex and with committing lewd acts with minors -- 19 felony counts in all.

Several other teenagers testified against Phillips, whose defense maintained that the teenagers were knowingly complicit in the tapings and in the sexual activities that went on in Matthew Phillips' house.

According to The Press Democrat, Phillips later pleaded no contest to child endangerment, one count of exhibiting child pornography to a minor, one count of taking photographs of a minor engaged in sexual activity for commercial purposes, and three counts of surreptitiously filming people engaged in sexual activity.

CBS5 reported that Phillips answer to 10 of the 19 felony charges when he was sentenced in February. Originally facing 12 years in prison, Matthew Phillips was 34 years old when sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison. After subtracting time already served, Phillips will only be in prison a little over a year. Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elliot Daum found that 12 years was "over-reaching."

Indiana firefighter Thomas Hibbs' court journey has only just begun. He was jailed Thursday after he confessed to holding the party and having sex with the 15-year-old girl in the video that was part of the sexting going on at Indian Creek High School, where the girl is a student. Hibbs was not in the video. His bail was set at $10,000.

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Related:

Teen Sexting

Sexting Caused Suicide

Students Arrested For Sexting, Charged With Child Pornography

Indiana Babysitter Couple Arrested For Videotaping Sex With Children

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Sources:

WTHR.com

Indystar.com

PressDemocrat.com

CBS5.com