Skip to main content
A Portland firefighter has been placed on paid leave by the city pending a criminal investigation in Clackamas County of charges related to child pornography and child abuse, WW has learned.
Andrew Ligatich, who works for Portland Fire and Rescue, is under investigation by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office “related to child porn and child abuse,” according to a legal document filed by his ex-wife’s attorneys on July 16 in Clackamas County Circuit Court.
The legal filing says the allegations are also under investigation by the Oregon Department of Human Services.
The fire bureau confirmed that Ligatich was placed on paid administrative leave on July 8 after the bureau was alerted to an investigation by law enforcement. City records show Ligatich made $159,732 last last fiscal year.
Fire bureau spokesman Rick Graves declined to comment further, citing “legal proceedings.”
“When the legal proceedings are complete, PF&R and the City of Portland will perform their own investigation and determine the employment status of this individual,” Graves says. “He was placed on paid administrative leave, per city policy, when we became aware of the allegations.”
The president of the Portland Firefighters Association, Isaac McLennan, said he finds the allegations “extremely troubling” but his union will advocate for its member’s employment rights.
“As it relates to his employment, PFFA will work with Portland Fire & Rescue and the City of Portland and ensure the process is followed [and] his rights are protected,” McLennan said.
The union has previously fought for the job of a firefighter whose personal conduct placed his employment at risk.
As WW previous reported, the union fought the firing of a Portland firefighter, Lt. Peter St. John, who was fired in November 2022 after both a criminal investigation in Clackamas County (in which no charges were filed) and an internal fire bureau investigation. That investigation centered on St. John’s alleged failure to report the proposed abuse of a child by a woman he’d been conversing with on a chat board. Scott Healy, the first assistant district attorney in Clackamas County, declined to bring charges. But he wrote that St. John failed in his duty as a mandatory reporter of potential sex abuse and “should no longer be a member of the Portland Fire Bureau, or any fire department for that matter.”
But the union won in its bid to get St. John his job back: the Oregon Employment Relations Board ruled in May 2024 that the fire bureau must rehire St. John.
The Ligatich case came to light in a July 16 court filing by his ex-wife, who requested greater restrictions on his child custody.
The status of the criminal investigation of Ligatich remains unclear. DHS said in an email that it “cannot comment on open investigations.” The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Ligatich did not respond to an email or a voicemail.
