El Dorado County drops child sex assault charges against Sacramento firefighter

Prosecutors in El Dorado County have dropped charges against a Sacramento city firefighter who was arrested in April and charged with a series of sexual assault violations against minors.

Court records show that the case against Adam Blankenship was dismissed Friday. The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Monday that the move was prompted by new evidence in the case.

“As prosecutors, our mission is always to seek justice,” the department said. “When new evidence emerges after a case is filed — evidence that affects our ability to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt — we have an ethical duty to re-evaluate.”

When that legal standard cannot be met, cases are dismissed, the department said. The Sacramento Fire Department said Monday that Blankenship, who lives in Rescue, was still on administrative leave while the city’s investigation continued.

Blankenship was arrested in April on suspicion of rape. The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said it had investigated him for a month, and that he was a suspect in child sexual assault cases in multiple counties, according to previous Bee reporting.

At the time of his arrest, 15 felony sex charges were filed against him, and he was held without bail, prior reporting shows. However, as of Monday, his name no longer appeared on the El Dorado County jail roster.

Prosecutors did not release details of the new evidence that emerged in the case.

Sharon Bernstein

The Sacramento Bee

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Sharon Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She has reported and edited for news organizations across California, including the Los Angeles Times, Reuters and Cityside Journalism Initiative. She grew up in Dallas and earned her master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. She has served on teams that have won three Pulitzer prizes.