Former ‘Teacher of the Year’ pleads guilty to producing child porn and soliciting minors online
A former teacher from Westminster West Middle School in Carroll County, Maryland, has been in custody since his September 13 arrest and was charged with four counts of solicitation of a minor and “using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity,” according to WTOP in Maryland. Kenneth Brian Fischer, 40, who had also worked for multiple other schools in Carroll County dating back to at least 2000, was indicted in federal court on February 22. The single count indictment filed against Fischer alleged that he “used electronic mail and text messaging to attempt to coerce a minor to meet for sex between August 31 and September 5.”
On December 18, the FBI released word that Fischer pleaded guilty to production of child pornography. Fischer also admitted engaging in on-line chats with at least 9 minor males in order to obtain sexually explicit images of those minors.
According to his guilty plea agreement, Fischer will be required to register as a sex offender; and if the Court accepts the plea agreement, he will be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison to a maximum of 25 years in prison. He will also have to pay a special assessment of $5,000.
Fox News in Washington reported that Fischer was a former Carroll County “Teacher of the Year.” Fischer was busted by authorities as part of an undercover sting operation last summer when he solicited online a person he believed to be a 14-year-old boy, but who was in fact a Fairfax County Police undercover detective. Following his arrest, Fischer was fired from Carroll County Public Schools on September 25, according to The Carroll County Times. Fischer was a resident of Westminster.
Carroll County Times also said that the investigation led detectives to other possible victims in Northern Virginia and Maryland, according to Fairfax County police.
Fischer also reportedly sent explicit sexual images of himself to the online undercover detective he believed to be a young boy. Once the undercover detective in Virginia learned Fischer hailed from Maryland, that detective enlisted the cooperation of the Maryland State Police, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and Westminster County Police in making Fischer’s arrest, according to NBC News in Washington.
In addition to Westminster West Middle School, Fischer has also worked at North Carroll High School, Winters Mill High School, Francis Scott Key High School, Manchester Valley High School, Sykesville Middle School and Mt. Airy Middle School.
A hotline has been established where victims can report information and seek assistance. Call (443) 373-1684 or email crimeline@ccg.carr.org to contact law enforcement.
His sentencing has been scheduled for May 20, 2019, at 3:00 p.m.
Also see:
- Disney star Stoney Westmoreland arrested, charged with soliciting minor female for sex
- Former Maryland school principal, 90, arrested for raping teen students in the 1960s
- Suspect charged in the kidnapping, rape and murder of North Carolina teen Hania Noelia Aguilar
- New Hampshire man gets 50 years in federal prison for producing child porn
~ Written by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
