Medicine Hat Media

To the Gallows, Gregory Fritzke!

As plastered on the front page of the Medicine Hat News, Gregory Fritzke has been arrested and charged with accessing and distributing child pornography. Okay… pretty sick, but to make matters worse, he was the vice-principle at Ross Glen School. Start the angry parents riot! Parents of children that go to Ross Glen are going crazy, and this is just from the comments posted on the Medicine Hat News website (most of the comments are now gone when the Medicine Hat News website was updated), who knows what the future of Ticked Off & Tickled Pink will look like.

Gregory Fritzke, 43 - Image from CTV

Greg Fritzke, 43 - Image from CTV Calgary

Quotes have appeared like “We as a society need to screen the people involved in our childrens lives on a daily basis more carefully” from one commenter. Comments like this remind me of the Grey Hound bus situation – one person gets killed, or one sick bastard is all it takes to warrant spending thousands if not millions of dollars for these “screening” procedures. Obviously in this case, I believe the commenter is referring to using ourselves as a “screen” to weed out child pornography collectors (somehow). This is a rare and  isolated event in this community – just like the Grey Hound bus slaying. There’s no magic “pedophile-meter”, just like there is no method to gauge if somebody is just going to wind up and kill somebody; obviously there are warning signs to these types of psychological issues, but they aren’t accurate, even so, the average person is not trained to spot these “warning signs”. In no way am I defending Gregory Fritzke or his actions, I’m just against the irrationality involved with people commenting and ranting over these isolated events (isolated in terms of the Medicine Hat community, not on a global scale).

Supposedly Gregory Fritzke did not have any images/photography of children at the school in his stash – but the fact of the matter is he was a vice-principle and he seen kids all day. Obviously this makes parents feel pretty sick even if he didn’t actually harm any children at the school. Psychologically speaking, Gregory Fritzke knew that what he was doing was wrong which is why he never acted out on his thoughts at school, instead he went home and downloaded child porn to satisfy his urge. Obviously I’m not a psychologist but I’ve read enough on the subject to know that most of these people aren’t pure evil, Satan incarnates; rather, they may have psychologically traumatized in their past or some past experience made him this way (maybe he was molested as a child). Obviously I’m being general and pretty speculative on the incident until actual details arrive. The bottom line is he downloaded and looked at child pornography which is wrong, granted, but he is NOT a child molester, child rapist, nor did he physically abuse children in any way as far as anybody knows currently (this may have changed though – see below). Guilty before proven innocent? I guess there is no gray area to most people…

*UPDATE – February 11th, 2009*

More charges have been laid against Fritzke which leads me to not retract my above statement but to clarify. I said that “nor did he physically abuse children in any way as far as anybody knows currently” which is still the case right now since he has NOT been found guilty.

Mad Hatters later followed up with a post expressing my sentiments exactly.

User Comments

31 Responses to “To the Gallows, Gregory Fritzke!”

  1. January 20th, 2009 at 7:53 PM


    Sean says:

    That Greyhound bus thing drove me insane. Like that situation, this can happen anywhere. School, church, a bus… Apparently he had been Vice Principal of three schools and taken stress leave, but from what? Maybe he was stressed and struggling with the moral dilemma of his perversion, who knows, but again, it is an isolated incident.

    I almost think the worst parst of the entire situation are the overblown story tellings by the media mecca and the freaking out reactions by the community, and so many reactions are badly written and have horrible grammatical structuring. Here is my rendition: OMG SRSLY GUYZ IM GON BE SICK RITE NOW! UGH!

    “WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT HE IS BEING CHARGED WITH PORNOGAPGY WITH CHILDREN, I ALMOST GOT SICK. I NEW WHEN HE WAS PRICEPAL OF SOUTHVIEW THAT HE WAS MESSED UP. HE WAS MENT TO BE TRUSTED WITH OUR CHILDREN.”

    And if bad spelling and grammar aren’t enough, there are people who complain about ways to “weed out” these people. How would that even work?

    Interviewer: So are you going to ruin the community’s trust and think bad things about the children you teach?
    Interviewee: Yes… I mean no!
    Interviewer: A-ha! Caught you!
    Interviewee: Dang.

    There’s a little something the Nazi’s did, it can probably confidently be paralleled to the phrase “weeding out”, it was called The Final Solution.

    “This man infiltrated every aspect of children’s lives.”

    No, he didn’t infiltrate every aspect of your children’s lives, there are a lot worse things he could have done, but he didn’t, but you don’t really need me to implant those thoughts into your head.

    “My children are new to the school but really looked up to this wolf in sheep clothing! We need to keep our family safe!!”

    Home school your children, defend your family with a gun, instill fear and terror in your children, family and community, become the progenitor of a community that can’t trust each other based on an isolated incident.

    “This is what pretidors of children do, they earn their trust, they know how to get inside childrens minds That is the most scariest part about finding out about things like this and knowing your children really look up to them.”

    They say that to get into the mind of these people, you have to think like them. The scary thing is, the person who said this on the Medicine Hat News really seems to be thinking in the mindset of this “pretidor.”

    Once again, the community is enraged by one stupid thing that can happen anywhere just because it happens close to home. Who cares about the millions dying overseas in unjust wars for oil when we can incarcerate one man for one issue. Maybe if he was an artist, we would remember his perversion more fondly, see William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

    All quotes are from http://www.medicinehatnews.com/content/view/66179/65/

  2. January 20th, 2009 at 9:02 PM


    Anon says:

    Pedophilia exists in nature, in all species. People used to commit sexual acts on children hundreds of years ago, and still in some cultures today.

    The only thing wrong with pedophilia is that it infringes upon the individuals rights of a child, for example, it is wrong for anyone to be raped, beaten, abducted, etc, a child or any human being. Those people commit acts that directly affect a helpless child, and those people should be dealt with.

    People who are sexually attracted to kids and people who “pray on” kids are two different groups, just like people who are sexually attracted to women are different from rapists. It is wrong to judge them the same way.

    Now we all know that pedophilia is like homosexuality in that it’s not an optional feeling for the person, they are this way, for whatever reason. Without becoming involved with a child, it should be acceptable to view pictures or even draw them yourself.

    This man had not interfered with an actual child, and sounds like he was good at his job. I see no reason why his face should be put up and slandered, he had never hurt anyone. Why can’t our personal lives stay personal?

  3. January 21st, 2009 at 5:14 PM


    Liz Aucoin says:

    I keep hearing people say that he did not hurt children and that he didn’t actually hurt anybody, this is rediculous, look up the defenition of pedophile and honestly, critisizing spelling, please. Is this how you are going to defend him? Who knows if he has ever acted on his urges? Most pedophiles have, hello, just because he has not been caught yet, does not mean he has not victimized a child. Look at the statistics, a very high percentage of people charged with this type of crime, have actually victimized many people before they were ever arrested. Please do not compare him to the vancouver artist that sketched children. This cannot be compared to art, and if you looked up the info on it, he describes the purpose in which they were drawn, it had nothing to do with sexuality, nor did they have sexual organs showing in any of the art. This is not a personal thing, nor should it ever be considered a personal freedom of choice to look at child pornography. And please do not compare it to homosexuality either, they are adults.

  4. January 22nd, 2009 at 9:53 AM


    Vaughn says:

    Liz Aucoin: “Who knows if he has ever acted on his urges?”

    Exactly, who knows! I don’t know, you don’t know. So why assume? I guess guilty before innocent eh?

    Also I’ve read from a couple sources that they were unsure whether most of the images could be considered pornography at all. Either meaning that they were drawn (probably in a anime style), or were just photos without nudity. I think this is what the “Anon” poster was talking about. I’m also privy to the site in which he was doing this on which is home to a lot of sick things as well as really funny things. Obviously he was using it for the former.

  5. January 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 PM


    Sean says:

    Who know if anyone has done anything. Who know what you are thinking right now or what I am thinking… The most common and serene person can suddenly turn to wrath and do something so distraught that it would mortify anyone, we don’t know everyones past, everyones experience, what they are thinking, so why live in fear of what someone might do? Take the bad with the good.

    I’m not so much defending what he did or didn’t do, so much as commenting against the overzealous (and badly coherent) reactions of the community, and media mecca, who are ready to cast him out of society based on allegations. But hey, let’s not give anyone a second chance, or allow them to repent and change. Why do people bother being religious when they just pick and choose these days what to believe in and what not to, or turn a blind eye to something when it is convenient to do so?

  6. January 24th, 2009 at 12:28 AM


    pepinchurchill says:

    Ijust found out. I’m shocked and frankly mortified. Is it Arrogance?

  7. January 25th, 2009 at 12:40 AM


    Sean says:

    It isn’t arrogance to be shocked or mortified over it, it’s just arrogance to condemn someone before a conviction, or to broadcast everything so publicly before a conviction. I mean, what if Fritzke commits suicide because of how much the media and community has blown everything out of proportion?

    Where is the justice when a human life is wasted? How fragile is the flame that burns within us all?

  8. January 25th, 2009 at 12:52 PM


    Anon says:

    Liz Aucoin says: “Most pedophiles have, hello, just because he has not been caught yet, does not mean he has not victimized a child. Look at the statistics, a very high percentage of people charged with this type of crime, have actually victimized many people before they were ever arrested.”

    Please, show me these statistics, because I’ve looked very hard to find any statistics regarding pedophiles that are not actual sex offenders. I also cannot find what the odds are that a given person is a pedophile either, is it 1 in 20? 1 in 5? What exactly is the age gap that makes a pedophile? Is it 30 year difference? Is it anyone over 18 interested in anyone under 18? I think most people would say “any adult interested in a child who is from 0-10 or something. The answers would actually vary from person to person, what about a 80 year old married to a 20 year old?

    As far as I’m concerned, until I know exactly what material he was looking at, I am not willing to judge. There are very famous websites that host hand drawn material on the subject and it is used as humor for other websites. (Pedobear for example)

  9. January 25th, 2009 at 3:40 PM


    Doris says:

    YEs the media is the worst! They don’t care that the accused has family. Its the family of the accused that is going to suffer. And it is not done yet! Wait until ATA put their two bits it (not worth the two bits) trying to cover their back as they do not protect their teachers…..Anyways paying into a union that is so tight with the media is terrible as the union only wants to look good in the publics eye and don’t care if the spouse and children of the accused have their dearest splattered all over the media……..My prayers are with the family…….Courage and Strength!

  10. January 25th, 2009 at 8:05 PM


    Deviate says:

    I’m also going against Liz Aucoin. Just because i’ve seen bondage and fake rape and misc snuff films on the internet doesn’t mean i have or ever will rape somebody. So where do you have the right to say that because he looks at child porn he “rapes children”. (Any sexual act with a child is rape). Some people SHOULD NOT BE ON THE INTERNET…

  11. January 25th, 2009 at 8:30 PM


    Deviate says:

    Liz Aucoin says: What exactly is the age gap that makes a pedophile

    “child porn” any persons’ that are pre-pubescent.

  12. January 30th, 2009 at 1:44 PM


    Nancy Kimber says:

    This response goes directly to “Anon”, who apparently is not so sure of himself given that he will not reveal his name.
    Firstly you cannot compare current time with that of “100 years ago”. We have come a long way as civilized human beings.
    Secondly if you think that a person viewing pornographic images of children is not harming anyone, what do you thing those children went through so as to feed the appetite of people such as Mr. Fritzke.
    I agree that pedifiles don’t make a choice to become pedifiles, but they need to be dealt with just the same. It has been proven that pedifiles cannot be cured, therefore they must be put away to protect our children from them.
    And lastly, he may have been good at his job, but I know personally that he has caused emotional trauma to some of the students at Ross Glen School as well as some of the parents and teachers.
    I hope that my spelling and grammer meets your standards. If you have enough courage to respond, please reveal your name.

  13. January 30th, 2009 at 2:54 PM


    Vaughn says:

    I think he/she chooses to remain anonymous because their belief is so controversial, I doubt you would make them reveal themselves. Also, it was Sean who was the one criticizing spelling and grammar, not I, nor “Anon”. Not that I’m defending Anon at all, I just think people have a hard time understanding the difference between comments and the article itself. I will have to make the distinction much clearer, heh. Otherwise I’m going to start looking bad making controversial articles like this :).

  14. January 31st, 2009 at 1:47 PM


    Anon says:

    Nancy, you assume that I am a “he” in the way you assume someone who has viewed child porn would maliciously molest them. You said it has been proven that pedophiles cannot be cured, please show me this proof because you throw the word “proof” around a lot.

    If it were on the subject within religion in another country it would be fine. Today it would be fine, I don’t need to compare us to 100 years ago.

    I don’t think photographic images should be allowed, I do think that should stop right away. I don’t think any individual should ever be compromised by another.

    Also, I have been specifying that I believe hand drawn child porn should be allowed, which is the biggest point I have been trying to make even before this event came around. It is completely illegal which is why people have to host the work on foreign servers. No child is harmed in this way, and people can still get their kicks.

    Why should it be illegal for me to draw something? How can something that connects my vision, imagination, and skill be considered so illegal that I could go to prison? There is no guidelines either, it can be incredibly simple and unrealistic, and I would still go to prison.

    As for your proof, I can guarantee you, there is NO proof that a pedo viewing imagery will either entice them to go molest children or subside their craving. If you happen to find such “proof” it will be more tricky than “I heard once from somewhere”, it will require names and statistical numbers.

    The lesson for you is that photographic child porn actually hurts an individual, a poor child nonetheless. Hand-drawn work can give people their “fix” without harming a person. Now, artists can be very skilled individuals and can create work that is photorealistic if they so wish, but it still doesn’t hurt anyone.

    Nancy, you need to decide where you stand on the questions I presented, do you think I should go to jail for a one-minute sketch? If you have some kind of decent human sense, you would say no. If you do, you need to lighten up on Mr. Fritzke, because no one has said exactly what material he has, and until they specify it, I remain nonjudgmental about him.

    I’m trying to help you understand something I don’t think you know very much about, I’m not trying to push you into your uninformed opinion more so than it is already.

    “what do you thing those children”, and no, your spelling didn’t meet my standards. đŸ˜› jk

  15. January 31st, 2009 at 4:11 PM


    Sean says:

    Nancy:

    It has been proven that pedifiles cannot be cured, therefore they must be put away to protect our children from them.

    #1. “Pedifile”.
    #2. Show us the proof and documented research to back up your claim.

  16. January 31st, 2009 at 7:39 PM


    pepinchurchill says:

    He who cries longest and loudest will endure (win). Just who was and what was KING DAVID? It is a very challenging question.

  17. February 2nd, 2009 at 7:49 PM


    Joe says:

    First off, came across this site as a ling of http://www.medhatblog.com . Good stuff all around.

    Secondly, I’m not sure if the animosity towards the media is necessary. I can’t speak for all media outlets in town but in line of work, we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. If we don’t talk about the arrest no one is informed. If we do we are the “media mecca”. At CJCY 102.1 The Lounge, it’s all about getting the info out there and that’s it. We get comments from the people who it affects (police, parents, school officials, family if possible) and then follow the court process. Maybe that’s not how every media outlet in town works, I don’t know, but we’re in no way connected to anyone else in town.

    As mentioned, I’d be more than happy to discuss our coverage on this or any other story we do. It’s all about being accountable.

  18. February 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 AM


    Vaughn says:

    Yes, I don’t think the media is completely to blame at all. Even I posted about it and published for the world to see – in some form that’s media as well. I think the problem that most people have (at least the ones that commented so far) is how they portrayed the story. No where was it re-assured that he was not found guilty (yet), and no where did it say that there was no reports that he actually injured/harmed the kids in anyway – so then everybody just assumes both are true before he is even put on trial.

    On some level, I guess the media isn’t at fault in any case, because, in the end, it’s the people that we should blame coming to conclusions/assumptions.

  19. February 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 AM


    Sean says:

    pepinchurchill:

    I don’t really know what your comment means. Who and what was King David? Wiki it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David

    Joe:

    “Media mecca” is not necessarily a bad term, it’s just a term to express a meeting place for information.

    I remember a teacher of mine in College who told us once that he could have made a lot of money doing advertisements for a cigarette company, but since it was a such moral dilemma and a bad thing, he didn’t. That is what I was thinking when writing my replies.

    News reporters are mostly doing a decent job and reporting things of relevance, and I’m aware of it being a damn-if-you-do and damn-if-you-don’t job; you can’t just reject reporting on something, because you have to afford to eat and everything, but that is also why sites like Medicine Hat Media or Med Hat Blog exist. Vent!

    My animosity is mostly towards the way the public is so ready to hang someone before jurisprudence is considered and conviction is declared.

  20. February 7th, 2009 at 7:24 PM


    Joe says:

    I’ll agree to those comments guys. I’m not against venting at all. But being back in the ‘Hat for a few months now it’s interesting to hear some of the animosity towards media in general.

    As far as this story itself is concerned…I know I asked Insp. Motz during the news conference that day if anything had been produced here and he said it didn’t appear to be…so I reported on that aspect as well. Mr. Fritzke is facing counts of accessing and distributing child pornography. To date, no counts of sexual assault. But I will agree to one thing…a lot of people have been ready to hang him out to dry even though it has hardly gone through the court system yet.

    An interesting stat came out this week as well…some 65,000 Canadians access child pornography. Then we had a major operation in Ontario busted with 31 people arrested and 93 charges laid. This type of internet activity is not a one-in-a-million occurrence anymore…

  21. February 9th, 2009 at 7:40 PM


    pepinchurchill says:

    WHITE night INnocence

  22. February 10th, 2009 at 5:52 PM


    Tim says:

    So for all of you that were happy to make excuses for this sick man, this person who never acted on his urges…now what do you have to say for yourselves? He’s been charged with assaulting a student at a previous job!

    Stop trying to be politically correct. Stop trying to justify unacceptable behaviour by an adult. If this person knew he had a problem, and was not the monster you think, then why would he not remove himself from a situation (his job) that was inevitably going to provoke him into offending!?

    This pervert, yes PERVERT, stole some child’s right to an unencumbered sexual life…stole their innocence. Violated them in a manner which nothing can ever undo.

    DON’T MAKE EXCUSES FOR THIS! I’m not saying let’s lynch the guy and cut his head off, but we need to keep in mind this man’s rights were compromised the moment he decided to ruin A CHILD’S LIFE. NO MORE EXCUSES…CANADIANS OR NOT, WE CANNOT TOLERATE THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOUR.

  23. February 11th, 2009 at 11:51 AM


    Vaughn says:

    Above is a perfect example of AGAIN how people condemn guiltiness before innocence. He has been charged with the crime and he is going to trial. I’ll be glad to call him guilty when he has been found that way – by law, and not by a lynch mob. I’m not defending him or his actions, I’m defending his right.

    Oh and to Joe, thanks for the stats/news. This information will come in handy.

  24. February 11th, 2009 at 12:38 PM


    Liz Aucoin says:

    Wow, reading the comments today regarding my previous comment, I think some of you mixed my comment up with someone else who was going against what I had said. “People who commit crimes against children, usually have many victims before they are actually caught and prosecuted for the crimes. The statistics I have looked at in my proffessional life of people convicted of these crimes have admitted themselves they victimized many before they ever were investigated. You can criticise me for the whole guilty before proven innocent thing, but did any of you read the paper today. The man was just charged with sexual assault and child exploitation. And watch the news folks, cause there will likely be more to come. Just wait and see.

  25. February 11th, 2009 at 2:17 PM


    Vaughn says:

    Thanks for the comments Liz. I’d like to stress again that even though, yes, he was charged, it still doesn’t make him guilty (yet). I also recently posted an update where I ask an interesting question on the allegation. Please take a look.

  26. February 11th, 2009 at 3:28 PM


    Liz Aucoin says:

    I fully understand what you are saying, I have a legal background, however, these are opinions, not the court. I will leave the court to judge him officially. I am not even saying he is guilty, however, most cases as such have many victims, whether we should be politically correct or not. Just my opinion. No one has to agree.

  27. February 11th, 2009 at 3:40 PM


    Liz Aucoin says:

    By the way, everyone, please reread my original comment, nowhere did I say, Gregory Fritzke is guilty of Sexual Assault, just was expressing what I beleive would be next, that victims would start to come forward. Mainly was commenting my opinion to all the defenders out there who said that people shouldn’t say he molested when he was just looking at kiddy porn, that assault hadn’t taken place. The comment right above mine was the reason, Anon had said that he has not hurt anyone. He did not know that, he was defending the child porn thing.

  28. February 11th, 2009 at 3:57 PM


    Liz Aucoin says:

    As for “Deviant”, being kinky in your sexual life with a consenting adult, is not a crime, please people, if someone is attracted to children, and act on it, it is a crime.

  29. February 13th, 2009 at 1:17 PM


    Sean says:

    Stats on accessing child pornography are probably a little embellished too. I mean, if you are prone to looking at pornography in general, what are the chances that you might stumble on a site that has children in the banner or a thumbnail down the page? I wonder if the court would classify that as accessing, because it is there, and despite someone may not be accessing it in specific, but are still accessing a site that offers it… Yea. Just a thought.

    Tim – I hate to break it to you, but honestly, unless he committed rape, he didn’t really steal all their innocence or violate children in the worst way possible. I don’t know why people think that accessing photos (while it is sick and disgusting) is somehow the worst thing someone can do. I mean, would you and the masses prefer he actually went from school to schooling raping everything in his path? Maybe if he did, then your jurisprudence and hatred portrayed by excessive caps lock would be justified. I could talk about more ways someone could “steal a child’s innocence” that doesn’t parallel Fritzke’s pornographic charges, but I don’t want to.

    And I know now there is an accusation that he molested/whatever with some girl. But Von covered it here: http://www.medicinehatmedia.com/2009/02/gregory-fritzke-racks-up-charges/ . Would you rather it was a legit accusation and a fact, or that she was making it up? Accusations aren’t facts.

    Click this link to be instantly guilty of every criminal Internet charge and go to jail: 4chan.org.

    Liz – Since you have a pretty strong opinion and seem active, you should probably write some articles for Medicine Hat Media. If you’d like to, send us an email at info@medicinehatmedia.com.

  30. March 8th, 2009 at 7:11 PM


    chris says:

    i have know fritze for a few years as he was princepal at southview school, and at roos glen where my kids went. on both occasions he left on “stress leave” he is a very weird man and very intimidating. my kids and i left a very abusived situtation and i tried to come back to ross glen school, when he was still vice princepal there, and he told me that there was no room for them. the kids and i were crushed as we had no where to go. but now i see why, he’s a predator and probably didn’t want to have accusations against him at that time.(as he knew of the type of abuse that me and my family went through) then i find out days later that he’s allowing other kids in the school.
    makes you think more about the people that you put your trust in, with your children. i’m surprized that there isn’t more children coming foreward, he is a sick man, and a HUGE hipocrite to boot. Just because he is a supposed “Christian” doesn’t mean nothing if you have severe problems in your head.
    I know from personal experienc ethat these men are very manipulative, controlling, and very sneaky about the things that they do. it’s a game for them, and they know that they are in charge.
    but the rug is finally pulled out from him. i feel the same way about him today as i have for years…i hope that he gets what’s coming to him. where in God’s green earth should we ever accept this abuse of children, wives, friends…

  31. March 9th, 2009 at 6:50 PM


    Sean says:

    I guess if someone feels cheated out of something, they will hold some sort of animosity. It is kind of jumping the gun a bit to just make a correlation between the two facts, or maybe it’s not. I don’t know your situation, but even so, maybe there were other reasons one day he said no and why the next other kids could be let in.

    Just because of the ‘accusation’, doesn’t mean he raped a hundred kids or something. Again, it is still in the accusation phase and the trial is coming up in a few days. Besides, he obviously wasn’t sneaky enough if he got caught on the Internet.

    I’m just trying to stay neutral on the situation until facts are proven by a court and the law, not the public.

    Besides, all sins are forgiven, or so I was once told. And in either case as well, even if he’s innocent or guilty, even if anything, we are all only human.

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