HILLIARD — A former firefighter with the Bath Township Fire Department is facing child pornography charges in Franklin County.
According to court records, Caden Woodward, 22, of Hilliard, has been charged with a fifth-degree felony count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance following his Oct. 11 arrest. He was arraigned Tuesday.
Woodward has been suspended with pay from his job as a firefighter with the Norwich Township Fire Department in Hilliard.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Woodward is accused of knowingly buying nine nude pictures from a 17-year-old girl over CashApp, a mobile payment platform, using the name “Woody.”
Hilliard Police Department allegedly received a confidential tip about a CashApp account that was being investigated for selling pornographic images of minors. A subpoena sent to Block, Inc, the company that owns CashApp, showed accounts associated with “Woody” belonged to Caden Woodward, and included a date of birth and Social Security number matching Woodward’s, the newspaper reported.
Norwich Township Fire Chief David Baird said township officials were notified on Oct. 11 that a township employee had been arrested as a result of a criminal investigation during a traffic stop.
“Firefighter Caden Woodward has been an employee of Norwich Township since October 10, 2022, and has previous full-time experience at Bath Township near Lima, Ohio,” Baird said in a prepared statement. “Firefighter Woodward was placed on administrative leave with pay immediately upon being notified of his arrest. Norwich Township has no further comments during this ongoing investigation.”
Bath Township Fire Chief Joe Kitchen on Thursday confirmed that Woodward is a former Bath firefighter, serving with the local department from Jan. 1, 2022 through Oct. 10, 2022. Kitchen said Woodward left the department voluntarily and had no disciplinary actions taken against him during his time there.
