Man who worked at 2 Pennsylvania school districts charged with recording boys in locker rooms
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — A man who worked at two school districts in Pennsylvania is facing child pornography charges after investigators said he recorded boys in the locker room.
According to the criminal complaint, the investigation began after a student on the wrestling team at the Owen J. Roberts School District in Chester County said he caught 34-year-old Samuel Elliot Fischer, a student teacher in the PE department, recording his teammates in the shower.
While going through Fischer's files in January of 2023, investigators said they realized some images had been taken at the Pine-Richland School District in Allegheny County, where the district said he worked as an athletic trainer from 2014 to 2019.
Trooper Rocco Gagliardi with Troop B said Fischer had taken photos and videos at both the Pine-Richland High School and Pine-Richland Middle School. Students participating in multiple sports were recorded, Gagliardi said, and investigators are still going through images.
"He's an athletic trainer that's getting a third-party application for one school. Has he been sent to any other school district for training needs, right? Or, you know, 'Hey, our team made the playoffs and now we're at x, y and z state games or state playoff games.' Now, there's multiple teams in a locker room, so we're looking at all of that right now," Gagliardi said.
In a letter to families on Wednesday, the Pine-Richland School District said it had recently been contacted by Pennsylvania State Police about allegations against a former athletic trainer.
Pine-Richland said Fischer was employed through a third-party contractor that was responsible for making sure all of his clearance requirements were met. The district said it hadn't received any notifications about his conduct before being contacted by Pennsylvania State Police. To work in a Pennsylvania school, the person must pass three background checks.
Gagliardi said the photos were taken over a span of several years, and investigators had to go through yearbooks to find victims so police could contact them.
"Taking pictures of students dressed and undressed in these locker room settings," Gagliardi said.
Gagliardi said investigators with Troop J are still looking at photos and finding new files. As of right now, Fischer is facing 35 different charges related to child pornography, two dozen of which are felonies, according to Gagliardi.
Fischer was arraigned in Chester County within the last week. He's out on bond and has another hearing soon.
Parent calls allegations "disturbing"
Shane Malone has two children in the Pine-Richland School District.
"Very disturbing that not only did they have access to these children, they also had access to their bodies at times," Malone said.
"There's a lot of bad people in this world," Malone added. "The last thing we need to do is have them exposed to our kids in high school, middle school, elementary school."
Malone said he is grateful Fischer was caught.
"It is great that action is being taken against this person," Malone said.
