An Alameda County Fire Department firefighter charged with possessing child sexual abuse material vanished in the waters of Suisun Bay in early April 2023, just weeks before he was due back in federal court — and now the FBI says it suspects his reported drowning may have been staged. Charles Johnathen Harris, 46, remains the subject of an active fugitive search more than three years after his brother reported the boat the two men were riding in had capsized.
A Fire Station Indictment and a Sudden Disappearance
Harris was indicted on charges of possessing child pornography on March 2, 2023, and surrendered to authorities five days later, appearing in federal court in Oakland the same day, according to CBS San Francisco. Federal prosecutors allege Harris possessed child sexual abuse images on his iPhone and uploaded material through the messaging app Kik, with some of those uploads allegedly occurring at Alameda County fire stations, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The investigation reportedly began after federal authorities received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, per CBS San Francisco. Court and department records from March 2023 show Harris lived in Coulterville, in Mariposa County, while working as a firefighter stationed in San Leandro, according to reporting from Firehouse.
After his initial court appearance, Harris was released on bond with conditions that included restricted internet access, per CBS San Francisco. He was released from federal custody after posting a $100,000 unsecured bond, the outlet's report notes. Then, on March 14, 2023 — three weeks before he was reported missing — U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis Westmore granted an order removing the requirement that Harris remain on home detention and wear a location monitor, per the same account.
A Capsized Boat and an Unrecovered Body
That loosened restriction meant Harris was free to leave on an overnight boating trip when, according to the FBI, he allegedly drowned in a boating accident in Suisun Bay on April 4, 2023. Coast Guard records cited in the Firehouse report state that Harris's brother swam to a dock on Dutton Island in Solano County at 7:30 a.m. that day, after spending eight hours in the water and not seeing Harris for seven hours. He told investigators their 15-foot boat had capsized around 11 p.m. the night before. Dutton Island sits in a remote marshland where Suisun Bay meets Honker and Grizzly Bays, per the outlet's report.
The U.S. Coast Guard searched for two days near Dutton Island following the report but was never able to recover Harris's body, the Firehouse account states. The FBI has said the circumstances surrounding his death warrant further scrutiny and has said it is considering the possibility that the drowning was staged, according to CBS San Francisco.
Defense Maintains Harris Died Innocent
Harris's defense attorney, Stephen Prekowski, pushed back against the fugitive theory in federal court, maintaining that his client drowned during the boating accident. “As far as I'm concerned, he died innocent,” Prekowski said, according to Firehouse's reporting. Harris had entered a not-guilty plea to the child pornography charge shortly before he vanished, the outlet notes.
A status conference in Harris's case had been scheduled for April 19, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. in Oakland — a hearing Harris never attended, according to the Justice Department. Two days later, on April 21, 2023, the U.S. District Court in Oakland issued a federal arrest warrant charging Harris with failure to appear, after prosecutors raised questions about the drowning account, per the FBI's wanted listing.
Who Investigators Are Looking For
FBI wanted records describe Harris as 5 feet 10 inches tall and about 220 pounds, with red hair, blue eyes, and light burn scars on his hands. He was born August 26, 1980, in Modesto, and is also known to go by the aliases Chuck Harris or Charlie Harris, per those same records. Harris worked as an Alameda County firefighter before his arrest.
If convicted on the underlying child pornography charge, Harris would face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and could be ordered to pay restitution, according to CBS San Francisco. Both the original charge and the failure-to-appear allegation remain unproven, and Harris is presumed innocent of both unless and until he is found and convicted. Anyone with information is asked to submit tips to the FBI, a local FBI office, or the nearest American embassy or consulate.
