Man gets nine years in prison for child porn offences

A man with a long history of child pornography offences is headed to prison.

Gabriel Michael Fisher, 50, was found guilty last June of accessing, possessing and making child pornography and of breaching a probation order that prohibits him from using a telecommunications device, the Internet or other digital network to access child pornography.

On Monday in Regina Court of Queen’s Bench, he also pleaded guilty to breaching a long-term supervision order that was placed on him in 2016 when he was declared a long-term offender.

He was the first person in Saskatchewan to be designated a long-term offender for child porn offences.

Fisher — who used to be known as Kevin Daniel Hudec before legally changing his name — has a lengthy criminal record, which includes convictions for child porn and sexual assault.

His latest charges stemmed from his use of a telephone chat line that he accessed while living at the Oskana Centre, a halfway house in Regina, between November of 2017 and January of 2018.

According to court documents, corrections workers noticed that Fisher was making a lot of calls to one particular number. Fisher admitted he was using the chat line and gave investigators the password to his account.

The recorded messages he had featured graphic content describing sexual activity between adults and children. In one message to another user, Fisher asked to be introduced to a specific child and for that child to be told about him.

Fisher argued the messages were for his personal use and therefore weren’t illegal. Justice Meghan McCreary ruled otherwise, saying the messages were shared with others so they weren’t for Fisher’s personal use.

The recordings also depicted unlawful sexual activity involving children.

Fisher was sentenced to 90 months in prison for the child pornography charges and for breaching the order not to use a telecommunications device. He received another 18 months for breaching the 10-year supervision order.

With credit for time spent on remand, Fisher will spend about 6 1/2 years in prison.