GREENFIELD — Stoneleigh-Burnham School reports there is no indication of campus wrongdoing committed by a former employee who is facing up to 20 years in prison on child pornography charges in New York.

Matthew Fisher, 50, of South Wales, New York, was arrested this month on suspicion of using a laptop owned by his employer, The Gow School, to view images of minors engaged in sexual acts. He had previously worked at Stoneleigh-Burnham before leaving in the summer of 2013, according to Head of School Laurie Lambert.

“We are aware of the recent very alarming arrest of one of our former employees by the FBI. This individual left our organization over a decade ago,” Lambert wrote in an email. “We have thoroughly reviewed our records and found no evidence of wrongdoing during their time with us. We remain committed to fostering a safe and supportive environment for all members of our community.”

Anyone with information regarding Fisher is asked to call 1-833-609-1736 or send an email to USANYW.GowVicAsst@usdoj.gov.

According to a profile on the employment-focused social media platform LinkedIn, Fisher was an equestrian center liaison, athletic trainer and director of summer programs at Stoneleigh-Burnham when he was employed there for nearly 7½ years. He was working as The Gow School’s associate director of admissions until he was fired following his arrest, which The Buffalo News reported occurred at Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Nov. 12 upon Fisher’s return from a work trip to Singapore. Fisher appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

According to a criminal complaint filed by FBI Special Agent Justis W. Nelson, the agency on or about Oct. 26 was notified by the law firm that represents The Gow School that an information technology (IT) employee became aware of potential child pornography on an internet storage account maintained by Fisher and owned by the school. Nelson reported that Fisher turned in his school-issued laptop on or about Oct. 15 because the keyboard was not working properly.

Court documents state that the IT employee was working from home about a week later when he was notified of a “Low Severity Alert” on the laptop Fisher had turned in. The source of the threat notification was determined to be an update to the Tor internet browser, which conceals websites visited. The IT employee, deciding Tor was unsuitable for The Gow School’s computer network, attempted to delete Tor from the storage account and found two Microsoft Word documents containing internet links to a log-in screen depicting nude boys under the age of 10 performing sexual acts on one another.

According to Nelson, the FBI took custody of a thumb drive with copies of the storage account contents, plus the hard drive and laptop, on or about Oct. 27. Nelson reported he reviewed the contents and found links that led to child pornography webpages requiring log-in information.

Nelson wrote that on or about Nov. 8 he was notified by the Western New York Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory that a search of the laptop yielded images of children engaged in sexual acts. Additional images on the laptop appear to be from a covert camera displayed in a bedroom. According to court documents, there are timestamps ranging from January 2019 to September 2023. The images depict clothed boys in a bedroom believed to be on the campus of The Gow School. Another image depicts Fisher in front of the camera.

According to The Buffalo News, Fisher was ordered to remain in custody.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.