DEARBORN, Mich. – Court documents provide more details about the arrest of a Ford Motor Company worker who was caught with child porn and pornographic links on his company laptop and cellphone.
Oakland County man arrested
Mitchell Edward Fisher, 37, of Commerce Township, is in custody after child pornography was found on his work devices, according to a criminal complaint unsealed March 16.
Ford Motor Company officials said they received a tip that Fisher had child porn on his work laptop. Fisher worked at the Ford Central Laboratory on Century Drive in Dearborn.
The company investigated the tip and notified Michigan State Police. A search warrant was eventually conducted at Fisher’s home, and officials ultimately arrested him at Detroit Metro Airport.
Here’s more information on the case from court records:
WARNING: Some of the details below are disturbing/graphic.
Child pornography found on laptop
Michigan State Police began looking into the case in February 2023. Ford’s digital forensic analysts said they had found two child porn videos on Fisher’s laptop.
One video was recorded by a young girl who was not fully clothed and filming herself in an inappropriate manner, according to the criminal complaint.
The second video showed the same girl, and she appeared to be responding to someone as if being coached on what to do, court records show.
In addition to the videos, Ford officials also said several “inappropriate/pornographic” links were found on Fisher’s assigned laptop.
Witness account
A witness told officials that they had seen child porn on Fisher’s devices in the past. That person said they knew the content would eventually result in a criminal investigation.
Officials said the witness was aware that Fisher had used his company laptop and cellphone, as well as personal devices, to view child pornography.
The criminal complaint does not specify whether this witness was the same person who originally contacted Ford officials about Fisher.
Search at Fisher’s home
Ford provided IP logs for Fisher’s email logins, as well as the company VPN. Police worked with Comcast to trace the case back to Fisher’s home in Commerce Township.
T-Mobile was identified as the service provider for Fisher’s Comcast internet account. On March 8, police confirmed the billing address on Fisher’s account matched the same address in Commerce Township.
A search warrant was signed March 13 by Oakland County 52-1 District Court Magistrate Judge Victor Zanolli. Members of the FBI Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes task force searched Fisher’s home the next day.
Fisher wasn’t home at the time of the search, and officials said they found a calendar suggesting he might be traveling to Florida. Officials were notified at Detroit Metro Airport, and Fisher was taken into custody.
Missing children
Officials said they discovered March 15 that Fisher’s phone number and Ford email address are associated with at least five National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTip reports. Those had been previously reported by Google.
Between Feb. 2, 2022, and Feb. 4, 2022, Fisher’s Google account uploaded multiple images and/or videos of child pornography, officials said. Those child porn images and videos were included in the submitted tip.
The criminal complaint says those images meet the federal definition of child pornography.
Charges
The criminal complaint concludes there’s probable cause that Fisher both transported and possessed child pornography.