Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A former Gow School administrator was back in federal court on Friday morning for a detention hearing in Downtown Buffalo.
50-year-old Matthew Fisher is facing a Child Porn Possession charge in a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The complaint was filed back on Nov. 9, while Fisher was formally arrested on Nov. 12 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport after returning from a work trip in Singapore.
"He's been an administrator at The Gow School for five years, and information that has developed from this ongoing investigation has led us to believe there may be victims that we don't know about," said U.S. Attorney Trini Ross on Friday. "We want to make sure that all victims are heard, and receive the services that they will need and deserve."
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While the investigation remains ongoing by the FBI's Buffalo Office, Special Agent in Charge Matthew Miraglia says they are going to go where the investigation takes them when it comes to the potential of additional charges against Fisher.
"A lot of times with these cases, the goal is to get the alleged subject off the street as quickly as possible. We have a lot of evidence that we're still going through that will be turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office. So we will see where that evidence takes us," said Miraglia on Friday. "Other charges are possible, but we need to go through that first before we can comment on what is likely, what's not likely, and what those charges would look like."
Although there are many child porn cases that go through the federal court system, Miraglia's concern with this case is the potential victims might not have had the opportunity to come forward or know that they should come forward to provide information with this investigation.
"Obviously, someone that works at a school does get us a little bit more concerned, and it just has a possible broader pool of victims. So we felt this was the best way to get that out to make sure that everyone knows," Miraglia said. "We also use this opportunity... to know you can always, no matter who you are, contact the FBI, contact the U.S. Attorney's Office as a victim. This was a good way for us to get out that information as well."
This also includes potential victims from The Gow School that no longer reside in the Western New York region or New York State.
"We're going to review all the evidence that comes into our office, and if we are able to identify victims through the evidence that comes in... we would figure out who they were, figuring out the best way to reach out to that family, to that victim," Miraglia said. "A lot of it is going to depend on the age, their location, things like that, but we would then proactively reach out to offer services, and also to try to get them to cooperate with us in our investigations into the case."
With that all in mind, the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI Buffalo have set up a hotline and other forms of communication for anyone who may be a victim of Fisher, and others, to contact their offices:
- Toll-free number: 1-(833)-609-1736, then press 1
- Local number: 1-(716)-843-5797
- FBI number: 1-(800)-CALL-FBI
There is also an email account for people if they would rather send an email than call: usanyw.GOWVicAsst@usdoj.gov.
In addition, people can go to the Western District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office homepage of their website, scroll to the bottom of the page under "Action Center", and there is a button that says "US v. Mathew Fisher". If anyone clicks on that button, they will be able to go to a website to give information as needed.
Fisher is currently in custody of the U.S. Marshals. The U.S. Attorney's Office has 120 days to perfect prosecution or ask for an extension, or else the criminal complaint will be dismissed under Rule 48B of the Federal Rules of Evidence.