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Former Teacher of the Year arrested after soliciting a detective he believed to be a juvenile online

WESTMINSTER, Md.  — A former Carroll County Public Schools Teacher of the Year was arrested Wednesday after allegedly soliciting a detective posing online...
Kenneth Brian Fischer

WESTMINSTER, Md.  — A former Carroll County Public Schools Teacher of the Year was arrested Wednesday after allegedly soliciting a detective posing online as a teenage boy, according to Maryland State Police and a report in the Carroll County Times.

Kenneth Brian Fischer, 39, of Westminster, has been charged with four counts of solicitation of a minor in connection to an online chat investigation that began August 31, Maryland State Police say.

An agent with the Fairfax County Police Major Crime Bureau, Child Exploitation Unit posed as a 14-year-old boy, and was contacted by a suspect later identified as Fischer via a cell phone app. Fischer allegedly initiated a conversation with the detective, and soon after, solicited sexual contact with the detective, whom he believed to be a juvenile.

Fischer also allegedly sent sexually explicit images, believed to be of himself, to the detective, police say.

Police say their investigation identified Fischer as the person who made the contact online.

Fischer was arrested Wednesday at about 5:40 a.m., when Maryland State Police, agents from Homeland Security and Investigation, the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office and Westminster City Police served a search warrant at his residence, Maryland State Police say.

Various electronic and digital data storage devices were recovered and turned over to the Fairfax County Police investigators, which planned to initiate a digital forensic analysis.

Fischer is being detained without bond at the Carroll County Detention Center.

Through the investigation, detectives have become aware of other possible victims in Northern Virginia and Maryland, according to Fairfax County Police, and are asking the public to talk to their children and report any suspicious contact outside the school setting with Fischer. Anyone with information about Fischer is asked to contact the Major Crimes Bureau, Child Exploitation Unit at 703-246-7800, or the Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.

People can also submit a tip anonymously through Crime Solvers electronically by visiting www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text-a-tip by texting “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES(274637). Anonymous Tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 if their information leads to an arrest.

Fischer, a Liberty High School graduate, began his career with Carroll County Public Schools in 2000 as a teacher at North Carroll High School, before going to Winters Mill High School from 2002 to 2007, according to the Carroll County Times.

In 2006, he was named the Carroll County Public Schools Teacher of the Year.

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