Former fire chief pleads guilty to sex charges

By Bernard Baker

Published: July 15, 2008

Former Riverbend Volunteer Fire Chief Gary Lee Toler faces up to 95 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual assault and child pornography possession Tuesday in Danville Circuit Court.

Toler, 46, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual assault on a minor and 15 counts of possession of child pornography, according to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Newman.

Toler will be sentenced Sept. 2 in Circuit Court. His bond was revoked after the plea, and he’s being held in the Danville City Jail. The court ordered Toler to undergo a psychosexual evaluation.

Toler, a former Pittsylvania County fire marshal, resigned his post as chief last week.

The case was scheduled to start today, but Newman said Toler changed his plea Tuesday afternoon. Newman said the assault was reported to Danville police in October 2006. The victim told police that there were suggestive images on Toler’s computer, he said.

Police interviewed Toler about the incident and asked if he would let them look at his computer. The computer was analyzed and images found on the computer were sent to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Newman said.

The prosecutor said the center searched its database and was able to match the photos with children — some of the images were at least 10 years old.

“These are photos of actual children,” Newman said.

Toler was arrested July 1. He served as the county’s fire marshal from the early 1990s until 1996.

He also was the county’s public safety coordinator during that time.

• Contact Bernard Baker at or (434) 791-7986.