Fire chief suspended 2 days; no criminal charges in domestic dispute

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Bill Nesmith will be suspended without pay for two days for violating a county policy which prohibits county employees from possessing firearms on county property, but he will not face criminal charges.

Nesmith, 59, has been on indefinite leave since March 3 after an investigation into a domestic assault complaint filed against him by his wife of four months. She accused him of threatening to shoot her and himself during an argument at their Indian Rocks Beach apartment in Pinellas County.

When Pinellas County Sheriff's Office deputies reported to the scene of the argument that first weekend in March, they found a semiautomatic pistol in Nesmith's county-issued vehicle.

Nesmith is scheduled to return to work Tuesday.

--Amber Mobley, Times Staff Writer