ANTHONY COLAROSSI, Sentinel Staff Writer
Orlando Sentinel (Florida)

TAVARES -- An Orange County firefighter thought he was chatting on the Internet with a 14-year-girl when he directed her to pornographic Web sites. Turns out he was communicating with an undercover deputy from the Lake County Sheriff's Office, according to an arrest affidavit.

John G. Kornbrust, a 42-year-old lieutenant firefighter, is on unpaid leave pending the results of an internal review after his arrest on charges of transmission of material harmful to a minor, said Lt. Anthony Rios with Orange County Fire Rescue.

Kornbrust turned himself in to the Lake County Jail on Tuesday morning and was released later in the day.


"As soon as we found out about the arrest, our response was to place him on leave without pay pending our investigation," Rios said. "We hold our employees to the highest code of ethics."

In January, Kornbrust asked the deputy posing as a child "if she has ever looked at bad stuff on the computer." He then provided two Web addresses, and both were adult-pornography sites, according to his arrest affidavit.

Kornbrust also directed the undercover deputy to specific pornographic videos online and asked "to describe what she was seeing," the affidavit states.

Kornbrust also tried "to call the undercover so they could talk while they were watching pornography together." Investigators said Kornbrust had 10 instant-messenger conversations and several phone conversations.



Communications began in May 2008, according to the affidavit. Kornbrust said he remembered directing the undercover deputy to the adult Web sties.

"He knew the person he was talking to was 14-years-old but stated he thought she was actually older," the affidavit states.

Rios said Kornbrust has been with the department for nearly 20 years, starting in August 1989.

Copyright 2009 Sentinel Communications Co.
June 5, 2009