Colorado Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Taking Teenage Girl on Interstate Road Trip and Had Unlawful Relationship with Her

          SANTA ANA, California – A previously convicted sex offender from Colorado was sentenced today to 240 months in federal prison for taking a 15-year-old girl on a 3½-month interstate road trip that ended in Southern California, during which time he gave her methamphetamine and had an unlawful sexual relationship with her.

          Kenneth Wayne Fisher, 46, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced by United States District Judge David O. Carter, who also ordered Fisher to be placed on lifetime supervised release upon completing his prison sentence in this case.

          Fisher pleaded guilty in May 2020 to one count of transportation of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of commission of a felony offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender.

          In February 2000, Fisher was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of sexual abuse in the second degree, thus requiring him to register as a sex offender.

          On July 27, 2015, Fisher – then 39 years old – met the victim in Colorado, and she soon told him she was 15. Fisher gave the victim methamphetamine and engaged in a sexual relationship with her. Fisher transported the girl on a trip around the United States for the next 3½ months.

          Between July and November 2015, Fisher and the victim traveled together through numerous states around the country – including California – and Fisher continued the unlawful sexual relationship during the trip.

          Additionally, while transporting the victim, Fisher committed bank robberies in Kansas and Arkansas in August 2015. Fisher later was convicted in federal court in those states of committing the robberies. Judge Carter ordered Fisher’s 20-year prison sentence to run consecutive to his bank robbery sentence, which he is expected to complete next year.

          The trip ended on November 16, 2015, because of a traffic stop in Fountain Valley. Fisher led the police on a high-speed car chase that concluded when Fisher’s vehicle ran out of gas on the 405 freeway near Seal Beach.

          Law enforcement searched Fisher’s cellphone, recovered from his vehicle at the time of the traffic stop, and discovered multiple sexually explicit images of the victim.

          Fisher has been in custody since his arrest on November 16, 2015.

          The FBI and the Fountain Valley Police Department investigated this matter. The Colorado Springs Police Department conducted the missing persons investigation, and the California Highway Patrol assisted the Fountain Valley Police Department during the chase that culminated with Fisher’s arrest.

          Assistant United States Attorney Greg Scally of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted this case.