A suspicious fire at a home on Union Street in Fergus on Jan. 25 was the scene of a child pornography investigation earlier that day.
Police confirmed a two-month investigation and execution of a search warrant at the home led to the arrest of 71-year-old Paul Douglas Curry.
Curry was arrested on Jan. 25 and is charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of accessing child pornography and one count of making child pornography available.
Police executed the search warrant around noon that day, said Detective Sergeant Paul Thompson of the OPP Child Sexual Exploitation Unit. He added his team cleared out of the scene around 2:30pm.
Fergus and Elora fire stations received the structure fire call around 4pm that same day,
The firefighters attended to multiple fires within the building and rescued a 65-year-old woman who is currently in critcal but stable condition.
The fire also sent a firefighter to hospital for heat exhaustion, but he was treated and is back on duty said Centre Wellington Fire Chief Brad Patton.
Patton said when firefighters arrived at the scene they saw heavy smoke coming from the building. Firefighters “entered the building and started extinguishing multiple fires and searching for people,” said Patton.
“We found one person inside on the second floor.”
The fire is being investigated by the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office, Wellington County OPP and West Region OPP Forensic Identification Services.
Investigation
In November 2015, police from the Guelph Police Service – Internet Child Exploitation Unit conducted an online child pornography investigation. At that time, they identified a male making available child sexual abuse images via the internet. Upon further investigation, the male was believed to be residing in Fergus. The matter was turned over to the OPP Child Sexual Exploitation Unit for investigation.
As a result of this investigation, one computer device and other items pertinent to the investigation were seized allegedly containing child sexual abuse images. These items are pending forensic analysis.
The accused was held in custody and is scheduled to attend a bail hearing Feb. 2 at the Ontario Court of Justice in Guelph.
