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A certified firefighter remained employed by multiple South Carolina fire departments despite facing a litany of child molestation and incest charges in Georgia, according to court records reviewed by FITSNews.
Those same records confirm Joshua “Tiny” Nichols, 40, was charged with two counts of aggravated child molestation and two counts of incest in Chatham County, Georgia, in August 2020. Nearly five years later, in July 2025, a grand jury indicted him on the same felonies.
Per the indictment, Nichols repeatedly sodomized two stepdaughters from a previous marriage. The abuse purportedly began around 2015, when the girls were 7 and 9, and continued in the family’s marital home until 2019, when they were 11 and 13.
He now faces a jury trial scheduled for March 2027, according to court records.
Despite the severity of his charges, Nichols was still serving as a certified firefighter for both the Mayo and Hilltop fire departments. Through his dual positions, he frequently responds to service calls across the northern and central portions of Spartanburg County, S.C.
Those same calls typically involve a law enforcement presence, meaning he often shares a scene with deputies from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO).
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The latter is a curious turn, considering SCSO arrested Nichols on Aug. 24, 2020 — shortly after Georgia filed its initial charges against him. He was extradited to Chatham County five days later, on Aug. 29, 2020, an SCSO spokesperson confirmed to FITSNews.
Upon that extradition, Peach State records confirm Nichols was denied bond and remanded to the Chatham County jail. His pretrial detention wouldn’t last more than five months, though, as his attorney, Chris Schneider, secured his release on a $5,000 bond in January 2021.
Nichols returned to Spartanburg almost immediately, where he lived under house arrest with his new wife and her minor son. That was, until Schneider secured two bond modifications that appear to have loosened the terms of his home detention considerably by September 2022.
That timeline is corroborated by Nichols’ own TikTok account, where he frequently posted about both his job at Revelation Towing, a Christian-based towing company, and the minor children in his life, whose numbers appear to have tripled during that same period.
As for what those revised bond conditions actually entail, FITSNews repeatedly asked Chatham County officials for specifics. Each time, they declined to offer any “interpretation” of their own filings — effectively declining to comment.
That ambiguity aside, the same TikTok page indicates Nichols added a Mayo fire helmet to the mix by spring 2024.
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FROM JAILHOUSE TO FIREHOUSE…
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According to a spokesperson for the South Carolina Fire Academy (SCFA), firefighters work at the discretion of the local fire chief, meaning it’s also the chief’s job to perform proper vetting prior to a candidate’s employment and certification.
In Nichols’ case, that responsibility falls squarely on Donald “Mongo” Millis, who serves as fire chief for both the Mayo and Hilltop Fire Departments — the same two agencies where Nichols remains employed in the face of pending child sex crime charges.
As for whether Millis is aware of those felony charges, there’s no denying it. He confirmed as much when he picked up a cold call from FITSNews on Tuesday (Sept. 1, 2026).
During that same conversation, Millis said he could not “do away” with Nichols’ job without first conferring with a five-person commission board — slated to meet in October.
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RELATED | JUDGE GRANTS BOND TO MARINE CHARGED WITH 12 CHILD SEX CRIMES
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“My plan is to sit down and discuss it with them and, you know, get legal advice before I make a decision,” Millis told FITSNews via phone. “I just got to get legal advice lined up before I make a decision. Just to protect [Nichols], me and the fire district.”
While the veteran fire chief outright confirmed Nichols’ employment and his familiarity with the Georgia charges, it remains unclear as to why he’s suddenly seeking legal counsel.
Multiple sources tell FITSNews the charges are common knowledge across both departments, and that Nichols’ ankle monitor is hard to miss when he’s not in uniform. The same sources say he’s openly allowed to “charge his leg” at both stations.
They further allege that Nichols’ continued employment has stirred discord within the local firefighting community.
Millis denied the claim, calling it “false information” and insisting the people who work with Nichols “absolutely love him.”
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A TALE OF TWO STANDARDS…
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Lending credence to both his and his critics’ claims, Millis promoted Nichols to lieutenant on June 25, 2025, according to a Facebook announcement from the Mayo Fire Department. Court records confirm Nichols was indicted in Chatham County just one week later, on July 2.
Despite that grand jury finding probable cause to indict him, Millis appears to have raised no objection to Nichols attending a community event hosted by Hilltop just three months later. A flyer for the event advertised face painting and inflatables, among other kid-friendly attractions.
Subsequent photographs posted by the fire department place Nichols on scene in his department uniform, interacting with children throughout the event.
He has since been photographed with even more children, most recently in April 2026, when he volunteered alongside other firefighters during an event for Carolina Miracle League — an Upstate nonprofit that gives children with disabilities the chance to play baseball.
As for whether Nichols is even allowed to serve as a firefighter under these circumstances, the SCFA pointed FITSNews to the state’s Firefighters Employment and Registration Act, which spells out what disqualifies someone from performing firefighting duties.
A subsequent review of that law found that simply being charged with a felony — let alone two counts of aggravated child molestation and two counts of incest — does not appear to disqualify someone from serving as a firefighter in the Palmetto State.
It doesn’t stop a fire department from holding itself to a higher standard, either.
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Proving as much, the neighboring Cherokee Springs Fire Department said in a statement provided to FITSNews that it learned of the “serious charges” against Nichols on Aug. 27, 2025, and that he was no longer employed that same day.
Nichols had served with the department for approximately seven months.
“The Cherokee Springs Fire Department values firefighters as they are public servants and we hold a high standard for those we hire because of the trust we ask our residents to put in us,” the statement read in part.
It also noted Nichols had passed a background check through the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the standard screening process used by most fire departments statewide. That check does not, however, pull out-of-state criminal records.
But once Cherokee Springs learned of his Georgia charges, the department appears to have immediately set a precedent that neither Mayo nor Hilltop has yet to follow.
When informed of its personnel decision, Millis said he “wasn’t aware of that.”
“I ain’t playing dumb,” he continued. “I really don’t know about that.”
Millis added that he used the same background check to hire Nichols.
Write to Andrew Fancher at andy@fitsnews.com.
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UPDATE |
Nichols was suspended without pay Wednesday morning (Sept. 2, 2026), according to Millis.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy Award–winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. He joined FITSNews in 2023 after leaving an NBC affiliate, where he served as on-air talent. His reporting focuses on public corruption in South Carolina, with an emphasis on law enforcement misconduct and abuse of power.