Offender out on $1M bail

Convicted sex offender Carl T. Fisher was sentenced to just over three years in prison for violating the terms of his probation.

Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti sentenced Fisher, of Ridgefield, on Monday to six years of prison, to be suspended after he serves 39 months, and 10 years of probation. Fisher was sent to a Bridgeport jail that day on $1 million appeal bail. By Tuesday, the bail had been posted and he had been discharged, according to court documents, while his appeal is pending.

Fisher's presence in Ridgefield since September angered residents, prompting First Selectman Rudy Marconi to start the process of writing an ordinance to expand the areas where convicted sex offenders are prohibited.

It is not clear whether Fisher has returned to his Ridgefield residence on Old Branchville Road.

An unidentified person answering the phone at the residence said they did not know Fisher. The state Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry spokesperson said Friday that Fisher had five days after being released from jail to respond in writing with his address. Calls to Fisher's attorney, Timothy Butler, were not returned Friday.

Fisher was sentenced Monday for a probation violation on May 30 when he was reported by a witness to have masturbated in public on his property in New York City.

His original conviction was in 1997 for first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor following an incident at his family's home in Redding. The 1996 assault was on a preteen Colorado girl who was staying in Fisher's mother's Redding home following a wedding reception.