News 12 at 6 o'clock / Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Interim fire chief Christopher James tells News 12 Assistant Fire Chief Jack Hanley has been placed on paid administrative leave.

The move comes just hours after our exclusive story aired on Hanley's personnel record.

This is not the first time Assistant Fire Chief Jack Hanley has been in hot water.

News 12 got our hands on at least four different discipline reports.

"With the press that we're receiving," said Interim Fire Chief Christopher James. "This is very hard on employees."

News 12 is listed in an internal investigation tipping city leaders off to pornographic material being "received and distributed" on city computers in the fire department.

"Is this embarrassing?" we asked Chief James.

"Yes," James replied. "Yes."

News 12 provided names, including Chief Jack Hanley, who confessed that he "received and distributed pornographic material."

"There are a lot of firefighters who use their city computers to do this," said Hanley in the report.

"It is not good to have employees that break the rules or bring embarrassment upon the department," Chief James said.

We pulled Chief Hanley's personnel file and found four disciplinary action forms that date back to 2002. Hanley was also suspended for 10 days in 1999.

"You readily admitted that you were 'out of line'," noted then fire Chief Few in his decision to uphold the suspension. "You also offered apologies to Mrs. Bell, which she accepted. I do have problems with your comments, realizing that you are an assistant chief and because of the leadership role that you must demonstrate. I feel that you erred in judgment."

Department leaders are promising a quick resolution.

"So we can move forward to healing our department," James said. "Allowing firefighters to feel proud to come to work again."

The far-reaching investigation also details a case in which battalion chief Tommy Willis says his brother and former fire chief, Howard Willis, gave him permission to use his city email on his personal business cards.

It is the second of at least three separate known department violations.

"Should someone be fired for this?" we asked City Administrator Fred Russell.

"It is hard to fire somebody that has already announced their desire to leave," Russell said.

Both Tommy and Howard Willis plan to retire soon.

"As we do that," Russell said, "You're going to see some changes come forth."

The city plans a reorganization.

"I'm saying that we need to take a look from top to bottom on how we do business, not only in the fire department," Russell said. "But every place else."

We spoke briefly with Hanley over the phone. He said he had no desire to speak with us and promptly hung up the phone.

The I.T. Department conducted a review of all fire department computers this week. They say they found nothing suspicious.