A former athletic trainer with the Pine-Richland Middle School and High School is facing 35 different charges related to child pornography, two dozen of which are felonies, according to State Police.
34-year-old Samuel Elliot Fischer was caught by a student recording his teammates while they showered in the Owens J. Roberts School District in Pottstown, where it appears Fischer moved after leaving Pine-Richland. PR officials learned of these matters after police investigators used school yearbooks to identify victims.
He took photos of student athletes at the high school and middle school at Pine-Richland. Police began combing through his files in January 2023 and continue to do so.
In 2015, three transgender students filed a federal lawsuit over a policy requiring Pine-Richland students to use either a unisex facility or the bathroom that corresponded to their biological sex. That was settled and spurred development of the current policies in 2017.
In 2024, a DC based law firm filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania. These attorneys are with America First Legal. This group, founded by Trump senior advisor Stephen Miller, is the same group that paid for spewing anti-trans advertising on local radio stations in 2022. The suit claims that Pine-Richland school district policies that protect the privacy of students, including transgender issues, violate the rights of parents to make decisions about their children.
That suit was dismissed in federal district court earlier in 2024.
While demonizing trans students and trans educators, Pine Richland officials, directors, and parents failed to protect all students from sexual abuse and hazing (see below.) The demonizing and falsehoods created a distraction or smokescreen, intentional or not, that allowed these other violations to happen. There is real measurable harm for trans and cis students forced to endure this pile-on. I suspect it will only get worse.
Timeline
2014-2019 Samuel Elliot Fischer worked for Pine-Richland as a trainer with access to students in the locker rooms and athletic training spaces.
2014/2015 Eric Kasperowicz serves as Head Couch for Pine Richland
2015 students file suit challenging school district policies that restricted student usage of facilities corresponding to their gender assigned at birth.
2017 student suit settled and new affirming policies put into place
2019 Fischer leaves Pine-Richland for the Owen J. Roberts School District in Chester County (presumably.)
2021 Football coach Eric Kasperowicz and his entire coaching staff were fired after allegations of hazing and bullying. Kasperowicz filed and then dropped a federal lawsuit. He is now head coach in the Mars School District.
2023 Pennsylvania State Police begin investigating Fischer
2024 parent files lawsuit in federal court referenced above. Dismissed by the Court.
2025 Pine-Richland School District announces that they have been made aware of the investigation and claim a third party contractor had been responsible for the background check on Fischer.
As a survivor of childhood SA, my heart aches for the victims and their families. There is no glee or ‘a ha’ moment here. No one deserved this. I remember the lecherous undercurrent of sexual predation that coursed through my school days in the 80s. It was horrible and worst of all, we knew no one would believe us.
These violations remain with you. In a ten year span, students at Pine Richland experienced multiple traumatic incidents and violations. They had no privacy, no safe spaces, seemingly no allies making sure they felt safe. Consider that Fischer’s crimes came to light when a student noticed his phone filming in the lockroom. Presumably that student told an adult – a parent, educator, whomever. Maybe they told the principal directly. Kids are really smart and pick up on creepy vibes.
I have so may questions here that I truly hope local journalists will pursue. Is it typical for such a concentrated amount of violence targeting students to take place in this period of time? Were there any allegations or reports or investigations at Pine-Richland? Did Kasperowicz and Fischer interact? Has anyone asked former Pine-Richland students about their experiences? Fischer’s ‘phone in the pocket facing the wrong way’ is a tactic not a coincidence. Kids notice these things.
Why did an investigation that began in January 2023 not reach the public until January 2025?
Did the victims of hazing receive trauma support? Has anyone traced Fischer’s movements before he worked at Pine-Richland? Why did he leave Pine-Richland? Were the same people supervising both men?
I’m not alleging Kasperowicz engaged in sexual violence. I am saying he was the head coach while an athletic trainer was so engaged. Why didn’t he know? Did his athletes feel safe bringing concerns to him? Did the alleged hazing create a barrier to healthy relationship to encourage such disclosures? Does he understand it was his job to build those relationships?
Is it possible that the fetishization of high school sports creates blinders for all of us, carving out a space for predators – whether hazing bullies or sexual pervs – to slide in and take advantage?
More so, it is possible that the hyper-focused anti-trans brigade dragging attention to bathrooms and book bans are enabling the actual predators to have more access to their kids? That’s how a smokescreen works.
You are right that predators are in our schools, but your book and bathroom bans are not helping. It absolutely is the responsibility of Pine-Richland Administration to ensure every single adult in their system has been thoroughly screened and passed all background checks. Maybe the third party contractor does the literal screening, but the School District can’t hand off responsibility for student safety to anyone. Where’s the compassion for the students who were victimized at Pine-Richland? Where’s the call to self-scrutiny? To do better? Will anyone be filing a case in federal court now that their kids have actually been harmed by a real predator, not a phantom?
America has already proven time and time again that it has never been about protecting the kids – see Catholic Church, Penn State, National Gymnastics Association, Boy Scouts of America.
There’s every reason to scrutinize Pine-Richland School District right now. I have low expectation anyone will do so, especially given the looming inauguration of a sexual predator to the Presidency. He really provides the ultimate smokescreen for all the neighborhood sexual predators.
The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7: Telephone: 800.656.HOPE (4673) Online chat: online.rainn.org Español: rainn.org/es
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