Regina man with long-term offender designation for child porn back on trial with new name

Gabriel Michael Fisher is on trial facing child pornography charges, his first trial under his new name.

Fisher, 50, formerly known as Kevin Daniel Hudec, was charged in March 2018 with possessing and making child pornography, following an investigation by the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit. 

Two years earlier, under his old name, Fisher received a long-term offender designation after being convicted of child porn-related offences.

Fisher's name change was listed in the Saskatchewan Gazette on March 2, 2018 — while he was under investigation, and just weeks before he was arrested on the charges currently before the court. 

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice is considering changing the law to ban sex offenders from changing names.

Investigation started with a phone call

Fisher is charged with accessing, possession and making child pornography and failing to comply with an order prohibiting him from accessing child pornography.

The investigation into the current charges began after a concerned phone call from officials at the Oskana Community Correctional Centre in Regina.

Court heard on Monday, Fisher was making and receiving phone calls there in 2017, and officials were concerned about the potential subject matter, so they called ICE.

Const. Peter Froh of the Regina Police Service working for ICE was given the case and began his investigation in January 2018. 

Froh told the court Fisher was using a phone system known as Interactive Male. Froh said Fisher could leave and hear messages from other users. Froh had transcriptions and recordings of the conversations made, which were submitted as evidence.

The agreed statement of facts describes Interactive Male as a telephone service for men over 18 years of age. 

Users can record a greeting which helps them connect with other users. The court heard a recording of Fisher's greeting, in which he describes his interests as "foot fetish, young girls and taboo." He invites others with similar interests to contact him.

The service allows for live chat or recorded messages. Froh said the service's purpose was "predominantly sexual."

Froh said Fisher's account made 346 calls using Interactive Male. He said the account was created using a credit card in June 2017.

In one call, Fisher speaks with a man known as Jeff, who Froh later determined was in Michigan. In the conversation, Froh said "Jeff" discussed his 10-year-old daughter. This prompted Froh to contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Froh was asked by the Crown to read or describe the details of three messages received by Fisher from unidentified users.

In two messages, one man describes a sexual assault of a person under the age of 10. In a third message, the sender described a sexually explicit act involving a child.

Froh said he believed all three a constituted child pornography by definition in the criminal code of Canada.

The Crown closed its case on Monday. The defence will present its case in June.