Fire Secretary Pleads Not Guilty To Propositioning SMC Boy

SAN BRUNO, CA — A San Bruno Fire Department secretary has pleaded not guilty to charges for allegedly propositioning a teenage boy for a sexual act at Peninsula High School last month, San Mateo County prosecutors said Thursday.

Gary Carson, 68, allegedly passed a note to a 16-year-old student who was sitting in his brother's car in a parking lot at the school on May 10, according to San Bruno police.

The teen ripped up the note, which contained numerous pornographic referenced and a hand-drawn phallus, and threw it out of the car, prosecutors said.

The boy told his aunt what happened the following day. Two days after that, on May 13, the boy and his aunt were in separate vehicles and the aunt saw Carson drive around the lot and stop his vehicle to get out, according to the district attorney's office.

However, at that moment a vehicle associated with the school district passed by and Carson got back in his vehicle. The boy's aunt reported the car's license plate, and also was able to find the note her nephew had torn up days earlier, prosecutors said.

Carson was arrested the following day and has been placed on administrative leave from the fire department pending the investigation, police said. He was off-duty at the time of the alleged proposition.

Carson made his initial appearance in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to contacting a minor with the intent to commit a felony.

His case is next set to return to court on July 25 and he remains out of custody on $50,000 bail, prosecutors said.Carson's defense attorney was not immediately available to comment on the case.

— By City News Service