DeKalb man charged with circulating online video, photos of child sex abuse

DeKALB – A DeKalb man has been charged with 15 counts of circulating materials online, including video and photographs, depicting child sexual abuse, court records show.

Curtis D. Fisher, 42, who lists an address less than a ½-mile from Founders Elementary School in court records, was arrested Thursday. Fisher faces 15 counts of dissemination of child sexual abuse materials, a Class X felony, according to documents filed in DeKalb County court this week.

If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

Fisher was arrested Wednesday by DeKalb County sheriff’s deputies and booked at the DeKalb County jail in Sycamore.

Fisher appeared before a judge for a pretrial release hearing on the charges Thursday.

Authorities began looking into Fisher on Feb. 27, after an Algonquin police investigator contacted the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office about an ongoing investigation into possible illicit online activity, according to April 30 court filings.

The investigation centered on a person allegedly circulating files containing child sexual abuse through an online file-sharing network, police wrote in court records. Authorities said that about 2:15 a.m. Jan. 25, about 2,000 files were disseminated on the sharing network. Of those files, more than half contained materials, including videos and photographs, depicting sexual violence against children.

Police tracked the IP address via a subpoena to Fisher’s address, records show. Authorities entered Fisher’s apartment March 20 with a search warrant to collect multiple electronics on his person and at his address. A police review of those devices returned evidence of the distribution of child sex abuse materials.

Authorities then interviewed Fisher, according to court records.

“He advised he lived alone, had no visitors in his apartment, and no one else would access or use his internet or electronic devices,” police wrote in April 30 court filings.

Police said Fisher denied possessing or disseminating the sex abuse materials when interviewed.

Fisher was ordered to appear for a status hearing at 9 a.m. June 2 in front of Judge Philip Montgomery. He’s expected to be arraigned.