Former EMT charged for child pornography in Clarke County

OSCEOLA - Answers to a polygraph test led to a New Virginia man being charged with possessing child pornography by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations.

Gregory T. Saxton, 35, was taken into custody Feb. 19 on a Clarke County warrant charging him with 13 counts of purchasing or possessing depictions of minors in a sex act, Class D felonies.

On Nov. 10, 2025, Saxton was given the test as part of the pre-employment process for the Warren County Sheriff’s Office for the position of deputy sheriff. Saxton’s social media and LinkedIn accounts indicate he was a firefighter and EMT for Stuart Fire and Rescue Department for 12 years through 2018, served as a combat medic with the U.S. Army from 2011-2019, was employed as a helicopter EMT from 2009-2015 with Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines and was an anesthesia technician for UnityPoint Health for eight months in 2023.

A search warrant application states while taking the polygraph administered in Polk County by a detective with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, it became evident Saxton did not pass “Test A” dealing with questions relating to crimes against people and property. During a discussion of the results between Saxton and the examiner, Saxton asked if the dark web and deep web were the same thing, as one question referenced the dark web. At this time, Saxton admitted to accessing the dark web during the past year to view regular pornography, but said he ran into other things.

During further inquiries by the examiner, Saxton said he had looked at illegal pornography which he came across and later searched for. Saxton made admissions to viewing pornography portraying children ages 13-17 years old less than 10 times and children under the age of 13 the same number of instances, but said he wasn’t into the younger content. Saxton said these searches and views happened at his home.

After the polygraph was over, Saxton was interviewed by DCI agents and admitted to using his cell phone to look at child pornography. He had two phones in his possession, a work and personal phone. After agents manually examined both phones, the work phone was returned to Saxton, and he signed a consent to search form, allowing law enforcement to forensically examine his personal cell phone.

Charging documents state 13 images of children, determined to be under the age of 18, many appearing to be A.I. generated, were found on Saxton’s cell phone

Saxton is being held in the Clarke County Jail on a $65,000 cash or surety bond. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. March 3, at the Clarke County Courthouse.