Ex-Wife Sentenced To Five Years In Prison For Distributing Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Lori Fisher, age 46, formerly of Bel Air, Maryland, today to five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for distributing child pornography. Judge Bredar ordered that upon her release from prison, Fisher must register as a sex offender in the place where she resides, where she is an employee, and where she is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Commissioner Anthony W. Batts of the Baltimore Police Department; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.

According to her plea agreement and court documents, at the request of her then husband David Fisher, Lori Fisher took approximately 50 photos, a number of which were sexually explicit, of two minor females on at least two occasions between August and December of 2008. Lori Fisher took the photos with her cell phone and texted the images to David Fisher. The Fishers have subsequently divorced.

On November 4, 2012, the Baltimore Police Department received information that images and videos of child pornography were seen on David Fisher’s external hard drive at his residence. A search warrant was executed at David Fisher’s home on November 20, 2012, and computers, cell phones and other items were seized. The sexually explicit images of the victims were found on the computer and cell phone. In all, over 2,200 images and 100 videos of minors engaged in sex, including prepubescent minors, were recovered.

On March 14, 2013, an undercover police detective contacted David Fisher on Facebook posing as a 14 year old female. David Fisher subsequently communicated with the undercover detective through Facebook and email, often using a computer at a public library because his home computer was seized during the search of his residence in November 2012. David Fisher gave the undercover detective his cell phone number and proposed meeting to engage in sex. A meeting was arranged for April 11, 2013. David Fisher was arrested when he arrived at the meeting.

Judge. Bredar sentenced David Ralph Fisher, age 43, of Baltimore, on April 22, 2014 to 293 months in prison followed by lifetime supervised release for producing child pornography and attempting to entice a minor to engage in sex.

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 United States Attorneys' Offices 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the "resources" tab on the left of the page.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.