DEPOSITION: Convicted pedophile Eddie Fischer talks about his life and his victims in a nine-hour deposition.
Friday, August 20, 1999
By TONY BARTELME
Of The Post and Courier staff
During a glimpse into the mind of a convicted
pedophile, Eddie Fischer admitted recently in a sworn deposition that he
molested at least 39 boys - three times the number of victims who filed
criminal charges against him.
During the nine-hour deposition, Fischer also said
that he was molested as a child, and that he didn't believe he was a
homosexual.
At one point, he described himself as a victim's
"helper friend." He said he paid tuition for another boy to attend
Porter-Gaud School, where he taught for 10 years.
Later in the deposition, he acknowledged, "I was
responsible. I was wrong."
Fischer, 71, taught in Charleston's private and public
schools for nearly four decades. In April, a judge sentenced him to 20 years in
jail in connection with 13 sexual abuse charges.
Except for several cryptic comments to reporters and a
brief apology when he was sentenced, Fischer had not discussed the allegations.
But after the sentencing, lawyers for victims suing
Porter-Gaud and the Charleston County School District, subpoenaed Fischer and
grilled him on his teaching career and his pedophilia.
A 437-page transcript of the deposition was obtained
by The Post and Courier.
The deposition took place at Lieber Correctional
Institution on June 29. Sources say Fischer was animated and cooperative. He
described himself as a homebody who has suffered from severe bouts of emphysema
for three decades.
He said that when he was 13 or 14, he went to camp in
North Carolina. While there, a camp counselor molested him. "I didn't tell
my family," he said. "That may have been sombering, but that is all I
can vividly remember."
He graduated from The Citadel in 1950. In his
yearbook, he was voted "Best Bullshooter." He went into business for
himself for several years until 1958 when a priest asked him to teach math and
physics at Bishop England, a Catholic high school.
In the deposition, Fischer said that during this time
he wasn't really attracted to young boys, and that he had several girlfriends.
"I was looking at marriage, to be frank with you."
Then, in 1960, he transferred to Sacred Heart
Elementary, another Catholic school in downtown Charleston, and molested one of
the school's students. "I wish I could just say it happened because of
this and this, but that didn't work. I mean, I had taken him in, taken him
around to the family, introduced him to people and all, and we cut it
off."
Later, he said he molested the boy for more than four
years.
Now 50, the victim has said in previous interviews
that Fischer seduced him by suggesting he come to his home and lift weights.
The man, who asked that his name not be used, said he used drugs and alcohol
for decades to numb the feelings of guilt and shame. He developed ulcers and
suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I was 12 years old and that was my first
introduction to sex," he said during Fischer's sentencing. "At a time
in my life when I should have been building self-esteem and building
self-confidence, Eddie Fischer had stripped me of any chance I had to lead a
normal, healthy, prosperous and productive life."
'Pure ignorance'
During his deposition, Fischer said that he quit
Sacred Heart in 1963 to sell insurance. He went back into teaching a few years
later, this time at what is now Rivers Middle School.
Asked if he had any sexual contact with Rivers
students, Fischer said, "No, because the school was 100 percent black. Not
that I'm prejudiced."
In 1972, he landed a job at Porter-Gaud, a prestigious
private school in Charleston. It was there that his conquests became, as he
described in his deposition, "an epidemic, a minor epidemic."
Nevertheless, he added, "This may sound ignorant,
but I never felt I was doing wrong. (I) never thought of arrest when I was
doing the things I would do, which is pure ignorance."
Fischer recalled that in 1973, a parent complained
that he had behaved improperly with his son.
"I said (to the headmaster), 'I don't know what
you're talking about' ... And the boy, I went up to him, and I said 'What did
you say?' He wouldn't admit it."
Fischer added: "I understand they (Porter-Gaud)
put me on parole (after the complaint). That is not true either. Nothing was
ever said ... I had to bite my tongue, and nothing was ever said again."
During his 10 years at Porter-Gaud, Fischer said he
molested the sons of some of his closest friends. He said he took Polaroid
photographs of the victims but destroyed the pictures several years ago. He
molested some boys just once; he abused others for years. He showed them
Playboy magazines and what he described as "stag films."
When asked if he considered himself a homosexual,
Fisher replied, "no, I don't."
"I don't want to say I'm bisexual because I don't
believe in it," he said. "I think that in your lifetime, as you get
older, you change ... I think that sometimes you get stuck in a rut ... and
some people never get out of it and some do. I think that my mind may have
stopped at a place where, for some mysterious mental reason, I did things that
I had never done before."
At one point in the deposition, Fischer said he didn't
think he was a pedophile.
"What are you sir?" asked an attorney.
"I can't answer that."
Fischer said it was no secret that he had close
relationships with some Porter-Gaud students. He paid tuition for one boy he
molested. He said one school official also knew that he took a boy to and from
Cotillion on Wednesday nights, and that the student sometimes stayed overnight
at his house.
During the deposition, he said he'll never forget what
happened on May 18, 1982. After molesting another Porter-Gaud student, he
suddenly felt guilty. "This has burnt a hole in my head for all of these
years. And I noticed - I knew it was wrong. For the first time I really felt
terrible."
The boy told his parents, who contacted school
officials.
"I know they wanted me out of there, but they did
not want any publicity whatsoever because it might hurt their son,"
Fischer explained.
James Bishop Alexander, a Porter-Gaud principal, went
to Fischer's home and outlined the complaint. "He said the parents are
very upset. In fact, he said the father said that he started to phone the
magistrate and have me arrested."
Fischer resigned two weeks after the complaint, at the
end of the school year. A few months later, however, he was back at another
school, College Prep, a private school in downtown Charleston that since has
merged with Mason Prep.
'In a sweat'
In his deposition, Fischer remembered the head of
College Prep asking if it would be OK to call Alexander at Porter-Gaud about
Fischer's grading practices.
"My heart stopped beating. I knew I had to say,
'No, I don't mind at all, sir.' ... And I was in a sweat. He phoned him. I
don't know what happened. He came back and told me to go ahead and grade like I
graded."
In 1986, when Fischer applied for a job at James
Island High School, Alexander filled out a positive recommendation to the
Charleston County School District.
Alexander committed suicide last year, shortly before
he was to be deposed in connection with the lawsuits. Lawsuits filed by
Fischer's victims and their parents allege that Porter-Gaud and Charleston
County School District officials knew or should have known that Fischer was
molesting students - charges that Porter-Gaud and the district deny.
Laura Robinson, one of Porter-Gaud's attorneys,
declined to discuss Fischer's statements. "The only appropriate place to
try a case is in a courtroom, not the press," she said.
During Fischer's deposition, many questions centered
on whether James Island High officials knew about Fischer's past.
Fischer said repeatedly that district officials never
asked why he left Porter-Gaud. In the spring of 1997, Gregg Meyers, an attorney
for several of Fischer's victims, sent a letter to then-superintendent Chip
Zullinger charging that Fischer was a pedophile.
According to Fischer's deposition testimony, when the
then-James Island High School principal, who has since died of a heart attack,
heard about the allegations, he went to see Fischer, an old friend, and vowed
to defend him.
"He would even put off his retirement for a whole
year until January if I would stay and we would fight it," Fischer said.
He remembers the principal saying, "I know this is not true. I feel these
people are trying to get you."
An attorney asked: "Did he ever say, 'Eddie
Fischer, is it true?' "
"No, because the conversation was, 'I know this
is not true,' " Fischer replied.
Fischer was arrested in October 1997. That year he
also molested a 15-year-old high school student.
Victims' response
During the deposition, Fischer sometimes seemed
defiant. He called one victim a "pathological liar."
"It happened. We happened, but not the way he
says and what happened," Fischer said. "... But here they are with
wives and all now. They have to make me look like a villain and they look like
the little saint, which I can understand. I have no problem with that."
Some of Fischer's responses angered victims who have
read the transcript, Meyers said.
"Their reaction is that it is good that Mr.
Fischer acknowledged molesting so many victims," he said. "But it's
unfortunate that he still doesn't understand that his role in victimizing these
children was much worse than he makes it out to be." Several victims felt
Fischer sugarcoated some aspects of his actions. "The details of the abuse
were nothing like what happened," Meyers said. "He made it seem much
more benign."
During the deposition, another attorney representing
victims, David Flowers of Greenville, asked whether some of the victims had
cooperated in the molestation.
"Absolutely," Fischer answered.
"A 12-year-old and a 15-year-old child?"
"Yes, absolutely."
After a short break, Fischer clarified his comments,
saying he didn't force himself on the boys. "All right. I was responsible.
I was wrong. And I didn't mean to say that, that they were cooperative in the
sense that they came on."
At the end of the deposition, lawyers asked Fischer to
confirm that he molested certain students.
To do so, he was presented with a list of names with
numbers next to them. To protect the victims' privacy, lawyers asked him to
refer to the victims only by the number.
"Young man number one, have you ever had sexual
contact with that young man," Flowers asked.
"Yes, I have."
"On how many occasions?"
"Many, but I don't have a number."
This line of questioning continued for some time until
he had confirmed the names of 39 victims.
Near the end, Justin Lucey, a lawyer for one of the
victims, said, "It's just totally disbelievable that your associates would
not have had a good idea of what was going on."
Fischer responded: "I have never given that any
thought to be absolutely honest with you. I just thought it was a secret ... I
think about it now, I can agree with you, yes. But I don't think they did. If
they did, they didn't say anything."
Tony Bartelme can be
reached at 937-5554 or bartelme@postandcourier.com.