Fmr. Chester County student teacher accused of secretly recording wrestling team in shower

SOUTH COVENTRY TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- Pennsylvania State Police have charged a former Chester County student teacher after he allegedly secretly recorded members of the wrestling team while they showered.

Investigators say 34-year-old Samuel Fischer was caught by a Owen J. Roberts High School student in January of 2023. He was immediately fired and confessed to police who escorted him off the property.

Fischer, who only worked at the school for a few days, was charged last week with multiple counts of sexual abuse of children and invasion of privacy.

In January of 2023, according to an affidavit, Fischer confessed to having his phone recording as the wrestling team kids were behind him showering In the high school locker room.

He told authorities a student who noticed his phone sticking out of his back pocket recording confronted him and asked, "Are you recording?"

The school district immediately contacted authorities and the families of the students involved, and an investigation was launched.

"What we're trying to re-enforce is that the system worked as it should," said Superintendent Dr. Will Stout.

"There was immediate communication with the families at that time, and then for the last two years we've been on hold as state police has been doing their criminal investigation," said Stout. "We went immediately to law enforcement to remove that individual. So they could conduct our investigation and then put supports in place with any of our students that were impacted by the situation."

Authorities discovered even more images while searching Fischer's devices, which he willingly handed to police.

"Through extensive investigation, it was discovered that Fischer had been engaged in similar behavior while working as an athletic trainer at Pine Richland School District in Allegheny County between 2014 - 2019. It was determined that surreptitious recording of students had occurred in the locker room at Pine Richland High School and the bathroom at Pine Richland Middle School," state police stated in a news release.

Fischer faces charges in Chester and Allegheny Counties.

FULL STATEMENT: The Owen J. Roberts School District sent this letter to parents this week:

"The safety of our students is our priority at Owen J. Roberts School District. As always, we want to keep you informed of important topics for our families and provide you with timely updates.

In January 2023, we were made aware of concerns related to the conduct of a Student Teacher while at Owen J. Roberts High School. Working in partnership with the Pennsylvania State Police, the individual was immediately removed from our school district, an investigation was launched and all involved students and their families were contacted.

After a lengthy investigation by the State Police, it was announced today that charges were filed against the individual, who was not an Owen J. Roberts employee, but was on our high school campus for approximately one week, from January 9 - 13, 2023.

We want to thank our students and their families for making us aware of their concerns. Any concerns we receive are quickly investigated and the appropriate steps are taken - including alerting law enforcement in matters such as this. Please know that we often have legal restrictions on the information we can share publicly about ongoing investigations and protecting the privacy of our students is paramount.

We also want to take this time to thank all the members of state law enforcement for their ongoing partnership, for all of their work to protect our children and community, and for helping us to ensure that our schools remain a safe place for our students to learn.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership in your child's education. Working together we can continue to keep the safety of our children at the heart of everything we do in the Owen J. Roberts School District."