Trumbull County Prosecutor praises parole board for giving max extension to convict
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins announced Monday that a man convicted of sex crimes against multiple children over multiple decades will be staying in prison for at least the next 10 years.
The Ohio Adult Parole Authority informed the prosecutor on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, that William W. Fisher, 73, who is incarcerated in North Central Correctional Institution in Marion, has failed in his bid for freedom after being interviewed by parole board members in August.
Fisher’s next parole hearing will be in June 2033, according to the state corrections website.
Watkins had opposed Fisher’s bids for parole in letters dated July 19, 2023, and Sept. 11, 2013, to parole board members. He called Fisher a repeat sex predator and child rapist.
“William Wayne Fisher had raped different children over three decades, the 70s, 80s and 90s, and the only reason he has not raped another child is because he has been locked up for nearly the past 30 years… He is a multi-generational sexual predator whose middle name should be changed to ‘recidivist with a Capital R’… This man gets indicted for raping family members in 1987, one of whom he raped before, flees Warren, Ohio, and then in 1994 comes back to our town with a new identity as James Watters and rapes children from another family, ages 6, 11, and 12! This man belongs in the Sex Offender Hall of Shame,” Watkins wrote.
Who is William W. Fisher?
Fisher’s criminal record shows he has 12 total felony convictions, 10 of them were sex offenses.
Now with this parole board’s decision, Watkins says Fisher will not get the chance to commit “a baker’s dozen.”
His first prison sentence was for 6 months to 5 years on Oct. 19, 1979 for a conviction of one count of gross sexual imposition. He was given three 10- to 25-year prison sentences and one life sentence for a 1987 conviction of four counts of rape.
On June 7, 1995, Fisher received four life sentences for convictions of three counts life/rape, two counts attempted rape, one count tampering with evidence and one count forgery.
In 1978, Fisher forced a 4-year-old relative to perform oral sex on him He is caught in the act and pleads to a gross sexual imposition and serves three months In prison.
In 1987, Fisher is charged with three counts of rape, vaginal and oral with the same victim and another count of rape with another child. After indictment, Fisher absconds and assumes another identity.
In 1993, Fisher returns to the area using the name James Watters. He begins having oral and vaginal sex with a 6-year-old, an 11-year-old and 12-year-old child. In that case, Fisher had a co-defendant, Devlin Hamlin, who was convicted of attempted rape and gross sexual imposition. Hamlin died in prison in 2003.
Prosecutor Watkins praises the Ohio parole board for denying Fisher’s parole for at least 10 years and allowing victims some “breathing room in not having to re-live their trauma so frequently.”
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