Child porn guilty plea could earn man decade in prison

EVERETT — A man who operated carnival rides for kids around the country, including Monroe, faces nearly a decade in prison when he is sentenced early next year for dealing child pornography.

Dale Fager, 38, admitted Wednesday that he downloaded and shared sexually explicit images of children. He pleaded guilty to four felonies. He faces between seven and 9 1/2 years in prison.

Fager came to the attention of Seattle police after Microsoft alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that its digital services had been used to upload child pornography.

The person used the online identity “Karney37.” That’s likely a play on the word carney, short for carnival worker.

Fager was arrested Aug. 30 while he worked for a contract company that operated the carnival at the Evergreen State Fair. He was wanted on a property crime warrant out of Indiana.

Detectives obtained search warrants for Fager’s online accounts and found a “fairly constant pattern of sending and receiving emails with other users interested in trading child pornography,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul wrote.

Detectives also learned that Fager had obtained a social security card under a false name and went to work for the carnival company a couple months later. He told detectives he had been doing similar work for a couple of decades.

There was no evidence that Fager engaged in any misconduct involving children while working in Monroe.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.