Upper Darby man arrested again for child porn

A 38-year-old Upper Darby man already on probation for a 2012 child pornography charge was arrested again for the same offense after Delaware County detectives found images of child pornography on his computer.

John James Fisher III, of the 300 block of Copley Road in Upper Darby, allegedly searched for images of girls aged 13 to 16, and saved more than 300 such images to his computer, according to an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Fisher pled guilty in 2012 to one count each of possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility, both felonies of the third degree. He was sentenced to eight to 23 months confinement and five years of probation in February 2013, according to court records.

Fisher left the county prison in March, according to a release from Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan.

Delaware County Probation Officer Carissa Tilotson visited Fisher’s residence April 7 and asked him about his computer use, according to the affidavit. Fisher allegedly became visibly nervous and a check of his home computer showed the browsing history had been erased one day earlier.

Fisher allegedly admitted that he had been searching for images of girls aged 14 to 16 in provocative poses and wearing little or no clothing. He relinquished his computer and cellphone to Tilotson, according to the affidavit.

Fisher allegedly admitted to Tilotson in August that he had searched for child pornography, but “only saved the pictures of teenagers that were in bathing suits.” He admitted to seeing images of nude underage girls but did not save those images, according to the affidavit.

County Detective Ed Pisani and Detective Sgt. Kenneth Bellis of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force met with Fisher in October, where he allegedly admitted to searching for images of girls in bathing suits aged 13 to 16 and to masturbating to those images. Fisher told the detectives he did not believe those images were child pornography, according to the affidavit.

“Fisher stated that he was trying to find that age range and was in a bad place in his life after just getting out of prison for child pornography,” the affidavit states. “He admitted to looking up child pornography terms ‘so he could figure out what he was arrested for before.’”

A forensic examination of the computer allegedly yielded five images of child pornography, along with numerous hits for child pornography search terms and an internet history for websites indicative of child pornography.

Detectives also recovered 300 pictures depicting girls placed in sexually seductive poses wearing inappropriate attire for their age that may or may not fit the legal definition of child pornography, according to the affidavit.

Fisher is charged with the sexual abuse of children for possessing child pornography, a felony of the second degree, and criminal use of a communications facility, a felony of the third degree. He was remanded to the county prison in Concord Sunday and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Harry J. Karapalides Jan. 9. Bail has been set at 10-perent of $100,000. Court documents do not indicate whether Fisher has an attorney.

James Fisher