EMT Sentenced for Making Child Porn at Branson Fire Station

A former Branson emergency medical technician has been sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for making child pornography at a fire station.

The U.S. attorney's office says the sentence was imposed Tuesday against 31-year-old Nicholas James Dickerson. He had worked for the Western Taney County Fire Protection District as an EMT and was a volunteer firefighter.

Court documents say that after Dickerson sold his iPhone to a Nixa business in February 2015, an employee noticed that the "deleted pictures folder" was still present on the screen. The employee saw an image of child pornography and alerted the store owner, who contacted law enforcement.

Dickerson told investigators that he took the photo while sexually abusing a 9-year-old child in his living quarters at a Branson fire station.