United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced Thursday that Mathew K. Fisher, 38, of Ellettsville, Ind., was indicted on child pornography charges while posing on Facebook as a high school student. Fisher was indicted on charges of production, attempted production and distribution of child pornography.
“Protecting our innocent children from Internet predators will remain a top priority of our office,” Minkler said in a U.S. Department of Justice press release. “Producing and distributing child pornography re-victimizes our children every time it is passed from one person to another.”
Fisher allegedly placed small video cameras in the bedroom and bathroom of two minor victims with whom he was familiar in December 2012, according to the release. The cameras recorded the two girls in various stages of undress. He then uploaded one of those photos to a website for ?further distribution.
He victimized a third young girl using Facebook in November 2014. He friended her posing as a 17-year-old high school student and sent her fake photos of himself. He then enticed her to take sexually explicit photos of herself and send them ?to him.
According to Assistant United States Attorney Bradley P. Shepard, who is prosecuting this case for the government, Fisher faces up to 30 years of incarceration if convicted on all counts.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims.
Hannah Alani
