SLT firefighter quits; remains in custody

By Kathryn Reed

Disgraced South Lake Tahoe fire Capt. Mark WyGant has resigned, making him no longer on the city’s payroll after Feb. 4. WyGant received one day of paid administrative leave.

WyGant is accused of possessing more than 5,000 child pornography images and 50 videos of child porn.

Mark WyGant

He remains in federal custody after being arrested Jan. 29.

A flash drive with the sexual images was found by a city employee and turned into authorities. The internal investigation led local law enforcement to believe the drive belonged to a member of the fire department. Then the FBI was brought in. WyGant was later identified as the suspect.

Images are explicit, including showing young girls having anal, vaginal and oral sex with men – but none of WyGant engaging in any acts. Lake Tahoe News has been told that no local children are believed to be in any of the images. According to the criminal complaint, WyGant admitted to filming at least one young girl.

The complaint lists WyGant’s address as Chico. The memorandum of understanding the city and firefighters are working under does not have a residency requirement. This is new as of last fall when contracts were being reworked. Prior to the new MOU, WyGant had been leasing a place in Tahoma. After the MOU was written he changed his residency to Chico. (The city agreed to remove the residency requirement because of case law that said this violated employees’ rights.)

WyGant has a court hearing scheduled for Feb. 13 in Sacramento.