Appellate court upholds 'twin goals' sentence for registered sex offender

Ed Lewis, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·2 min read

May 13—A Luzerne County judge's "twin goals" sentence imposed upon a convicted sexual offender was upheld on appeal with the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Matthew Raymond Fisher, 54, formerly of Blakeslee, Monroe County, was arrested by Luzerne County detectives in January 2021, after receiving reports he was communicating on a dating app with an individual pretending to be a 15-year-old boy. The person Fisher was communicating with online was Musa Harris, a civilian known as the Luzerne County Predator Catcher on social media sites.

Court records say Fisher asked for nude photos and the "boy's" address. Fisher wanted to meet the boy to have sex and sent a lewd photo to the boy, court records say.

At the time of Fisher's online communications with Harris, he was a lifetime registered sexual offender in Monroe County and on state parole.

Judge David W. Lupas sentenced Fisher to two consecutive terms of two-years, six months to seven-years in state prison on charges of criminal solicitation to commit statutory sexual assault and criminal attempt to commit unlawful contact with a minor, for a total of five-years to 14 years in state prison. Fisher was also sentenced to three years probation and was deemed a sexually violent offender subject to lifetime registration under the state's Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Fisher appealed the sentence arguing the consecutive sentence was excessive and unlawful.

A three-judge panel of the Superior Court in a 13-page opinion upheld Lupas' sentence imposed upon Fisher.

"The imposed sentencing scheme was clearly meant to serve the twin goals of protecting the community from (Fisher) and addressing (Fisher's) obvious rehabilitative needs," the appellate court ruled, adding, "The need for such a term was clearly apparent where (Fisher) engaged in the actions resulting in his offenses despite the fact that he was already under the supervision of parole authorities and the services open to him in that process had failed to curtail his criminal conduct."