Clearwater man sentenced to prison for child pornography distribution

WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for distributing child sex abuse materials (CSAM).

According to court documents, Benjamin Charles Fisher, 44, of Clearwater pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography.

Fisher admitted to using a social media messaging platform to correspond with other sex offenders to trade child sexual abuse materials. He used multiple alias accounts and connected to the internet from his home and from his work while committing his crimes.

As part of his sentence, a federal judge ordered Fisher to pay $30,500 in restitution.

“Our office is extremely pleased with the sentence in this case which is the statutory maximum for the offense,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. “By using different names and logging onto the internet from multiple locations, Mr. Fisher thought his crimes would go undetected and unpunished by the justice system. What he didn’t plan on was the tenacity of our highly skilled law enforcement partners and prosecution, which is why Mr. Fisher will be spending the next 20 years in prison. It does not matter how someone tries to cover up their activity, we are committed to getting justice in these cases.”

The Wichita Police Department and Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart prosecuted the case.

Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

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