Longtime Capital Playhouse worker facing child porn charges
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TACOMA, Wash. -- Prosecutors have charged a long-time employee of the Capital Playhouse in Olympia with possession of child pornography.
Troy Fisher, who often worked with children at the Playhouse as the theater's former artistic director, faces 14 counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexual acts.
Fisher, 52, was reported missing by family members on July 23.
While looking for clues into his whereabouts, police looked through his phone and computer. They found 151 child porn images involving boys and girls, aged 10 and 14, engaging in sexual act with adults and with each other.
Fisher himself called 911 two days later and said he'd just woken up under a bush, and could not recall the last 48 hours. The 52-year-old man, who was wearing pajamas and no shoes, was dehydrated and disoriented.
He told investigators the last thing he remembered was going to his car to listen to music two days prior. He had wanted to avoid waking his niece and nephew, who were staying with him, he said.
When asked about what police had found, Fisher admitted he had pornography on his computer, but said any child porn found in his possession had been obtained unintentionally.
However, a forensic analysis of his computer showed it had been used to access 17 porn sites, nine of which are being actively investigated for child porn, according to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.
A search of Fisher's two work computers turned up 23 pornographic images, three of which involved minors.
There are no indications that Fisher or any of the children at the theater are featured on the pornographic images.
"All these images appear to be downloaded from the internet, rather than being from actual children he knew," said Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist.
Late Tuesday, the playhouse board announced that Fisher voluntarily resigned in order to focus on his defense of the charges.
"Working on his defense is all consuming for him and could be detraction to the playhouse and he really didn't want that," said Mike Oshiki with the Capital Playhouse.
That defense will center on that other people had access to Fisher's home and work computers, and police didn't have a warrant when they first discovered the sexually explicit images, said Fisher's attorney Paul Strophy.
"I expect that's going to be a key issue in the case here -- that there was an unlawful seizure and search of the computer to begin with," Strophy said.
Fisher has been released from custody but is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 11.
Troy Fisher, who often worked with children at the Playhouse as the theater's former artistic director, faces 14 counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexual acts.
Fisher, 52, was reported missing by family members on July 23.
While looking for clues into his whereabouts, police looked through his phone and computer. They found 151 child porn images involving boys and girls, aged 10 and 14, engaging in sexual act with adults and with each other.
Fisher himself called 911 two days later and said he'd just woken up under a bush, and could not recall the last 48 hours. The 52-year-old man, who was wearing pajamas and no shoes, was dehydrated and disoriented.
He told investigators the last thing he remembered was going to his car to listen to music two days prior. He had wanted to avoid waking his niece and nephew, who were staying with him, he said.
When asked about what police had found, Fisher admitted he had pornography on his computer, but said any child porn found in his possession had been obtained unintentionally.
However, a forensic analysis of his computer showed it had been used to access 17 porn sites, nine of which are being actively investigated for child porn, according to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.
A search of Fisher's two work computers turned up 23 pornographic images, three of which involved minors.
There are no indications that Fisher or any of the children at the theater are featured on the pornographic images.
"All these images appear to be downloaded from the internet, rather than being from actual children he knew," said Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist.
Late Tuesday, the playhouse board announced that Fisher voluntarily resigned in order to focus on his defense of the charges.
"Working on his defense is all consuming for him and could be detraction to the playhouse and he really didn't want that," said Mike Oshiki with the Capital Playhouse.
That defense will center on that other people had access to Fisher's home and work computers, and police didn't have a warrant when they first discovered the sexually explicit images, said Fisher's attorney Paul Strophy.
"I expect that's going to be a key issue in the case here -- that there was an unlawful seizure and search of the computer to begin with," Strophy said.
Fisher has been released from custody but is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 11.
Please be accurate, KOMO -- "They found 151 child porn images involving boys and girls, aged 10 and 14, engaging in sexual act with adults and with each other" --????? Only 14 depictions are suspected to be child porn images. That is why there are only 14 counts. If 151 child porn images were found, there would be 151 counts. Child pornographers typically deal in large quanitities -- often thousands and sometimes only in the hundreds, but not 14. The facts in this story are important. This is not the time to be Impressionist!
 @Anamchara Here's even more detail: http://www.blscourierherald.com/news/181084901.html With one instance of child porn..... it is beyond lawful. This worm has issues. A long prison sentence is warranted. Buh bye... sick bast@rd.
Yes..you too Troy can buy a encrypted USB drive for $29.95. Much cheaper than defense lawyers. And oh..web browsers have this private browsing thing too.Â
 @I Like Meat Uh, or just dont do it in the first place?
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I'm not defending this guy if the charges are true, but this kinda sounds like the guy downloaded tons of pictures and porn from a filesharing site, and some of them happened to be CP.
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The usual MO for a CP pervert is almost only CP, since regular porn doesnt turn them on. Since this guy had a handful of CP mixed in with a ton of regular stuff, it almost sounds like an accident.
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Same thing happened to a friend of mine in college, although he never got charged.
 @Avalonis You could be right since a lot of people download stuff they never look at. I'm just amazed though how many CP pervs get caught this way. Probably didn't even have a password on his computer. Might as well put the pictures on your fridge.
They are going to LOVE this guy in jail.
Hey KOMO, you should probably fire your editor and pay some college student minimum wage to paste articles into a spell-checker before publishing them onto the internet. Might improve your integrity a bit.Shoot, Chrome even spell-checks my comments for me as I type them.
"Fisher himself called 911 two days later and said he'd just woken up under a bush, and could not recall the last 48 hours."
He had probably just been beaten senseless by some unlucky kids father.
He was reported missing by his family, was later found in a handbasket heading quickly downward...
Hard to believe how naive people are. Pedophiles work wherever they can get in close proximity of children. Day cares, schools, boy scouts, church programs. If you're a parent talk to your children and play close attention to who they are interacting with.
 @Blindman And you know this how?
 @NaviDog  @Blindman NaviDog are you being outed?
 @NaviDog  @Blindman "And you know this how?"
Seriously? You're really not aware that people seeking access to children try to work where they can have access to children?
@fumblefacedolt @Jill @NaviDog @Blindman - Interesting.  It sounds like you have an expert understanding of this issue - just wondering what is the basis of your statements as I'd like to read more about this. Â
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Could you cite your sources please?
 @Jill  @NaviDog  @Blindman thats not true. your making assumptions based on news media reports. most don't work close to children in fact most are average Joes working all different kinds of jobs, educations levels, etc. don't be a fool. The real threat is in the home, most are well known to their victims usually a family friend or relative. The bush jumper pedo's we read about every day are rare.