A local Texas firefighter was suspended after city officials discovered he was a registered sex offender.
Lockhart officials said they want to know why they were not told about the man's criminal history.
The Lockhart fire chief describes Mike Harris as quiet and a good firefighter. He has no disciplinary history in the four years he has worked at the department.
When city officials found out last year that Harris was a registered sex offender, they wondered how he could have slipped through the cracks. They must decide if he should stay or go.
With just 12 full-time firefighters on the payroll, the Lockhart Fire Department is like a family.
"The firefighters have a bond as a family," said Chief Jerry Doyle. "They spend a third of their life here."
But 12 is now 11.
Harris was placed on paid leave, because of his status as a registered sex offender.
"In this case, its just something that failed to show up when he was hired," Doyle said.
He added that city officials didn't learn Harris' criminal history until a city background investigation pulled it up last month.
"We had relied on the state agenices to do their work, as far as background investigations, when they license the applicant for their certification," Doyle said.
Those state agencies did do their work and knew Harris had a conviction in New York state for indecent exposure. Yet he was licensed anyway.
A representative for the Department of State Health Services said the term "registered sex offender" is applied to an array of actions, ranging from minor misdemeanors to serious felonies. Being a registered sex offender does not keep someone from getting licensed.
Doyle said he wants to know why he wasn't made aware of Harris' criminal history.
"That's part of the investigation that we're looking into is to find out why we were not made aware of it," Doyle said. Tyra Hearns President of background investigation firm Pebi Services says the problem goes further than that."This borders on grand malfecance and lack of due dilligence on the part of the background investigator. Fireman are conducting fire prevention classes in schools, giving fire house tours to school children, this should of never happened and the state agency entrusted with doing the background investigation should be ashamed."
The fire chief said he hopes to wrap up the investigation next week and get onto the business of fighting fires.
The Texas Commission on Fire Protection only recently decided that registered sex offenders could not be licensed, well after Harris received his license in 2001.
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