Frischling: Firefighter, Snowboarder... and Abuse Victim

Warning: Try not to lose your lunch, please. If we thought there were even a tiny chance of this being true, we would not post the following.

Some of the photographers who can't stand Steven Frischling alerted us to his wildest, most inappropriate tale ever on the SportsShooter message board: a confession that he was sexually molested at a boarding school in high school.

Here is his story on the message board:

I went to boarding school for 12 months in the 9th grade. My dorm counselor was a monster.

This dorm counselor was let go from the USCG after a few "incidents" while he was involved in the USCG's civilian boys group.

This monster then went to Homer, Alaska where he was a firefighter, he became involved in the Fire Department's boy scout troop, there were allegations, but since his brother is also a firefighter in Home (and still is) he was advised to leave town quickly. My request for all interaction between the Homer PD and this man have been met with a sense of being rebuffed by the PD Chief.

From Alaska he went to Oregon where he worked in a Church outreach program. Up on his wall was a newspaper article on how he was found innocent on all allegation that he has sexually assaulted a boy in the outreach group....and that how the boy was being helped for his "troubles." What a way to flaunt it , eh?

From Oregon he landed at the Eagle Hill School, in Hardwick, Mass for about 4 years. I was there from June 89 to June 90. His actions started on the first night , I moved to a different dorm in Sept only to have him convince my parents and the school that it was in my best interest to be in his dorm, so less than a month later I was back in his dorm and he was relentless to many of us until we left the school. He was a master manipulator and was good at keeping students silent.

He moved on to Maine, near where his family lived. While in Maine he was involved in a community church where four boys filed charges. Nearly 50 charges. Two boys dropped the charges and he was allowed to plead guilty to somewhere around half-a-dozen minor sex offender charges. He was found to not be a threat, and unlikely to pursue sex offenses in the future, given a light sentence and probation.

He is now on probation in a remote town on the Canadian Boarder....I am sure hurting young children away from the eyes of the law.

....

I have tracked at least 80 victims to the pedophile I lived with by doing heavy leg work on my own. All are out of the time limitations, most won't discuss it, others just want to forget it, some can't be tracked down, but evidence of the incidents exist in sealed records (which are hard to get a hold of) ........and this guy got off by pleading guilty to seven minor-sex offender chargers for a light felony sentence.

Notably, even though this individual is supposedly a registered sex offender somewhere, Frischling does not identify him. So we shall refer to this unnamed individual as Chester.

Frischling provided a large number of details to work with, thinking it would make his story more credible. So let's go through them:

• First, we have confirmed that he attended Eagle Hill School from 1989-1990. However, he claimed he was there "for 12 months." This is impossible as Eagle Hill School is not open year-round. According to an administrator who has been there for 28 years, they have a five-week session that begins in July, but school does not resume again until September.
• He claims that Chester's "actions started on the first night." Possible, but highly dubious. Even we've seen enough "Law & Order: SUV" episodes to know child molesters in positions of power typically take awhile to build up trust with their victims and to secure their silence.
• There was never any lawsuit involving the Frischlings, or any families, against the school for employing a child molester. Certainly if Chester were there for four years assaulting everyone on their first night, somebody would have filed a big fat lawsuit. Eagle Hill is an extremely pricey school (currently $57,000 for annual tuition!) and you can bet there would have been at least one very, very hefty lawsuit in the millions of dollars.
• Frischling claims Chester had been fired from the U.S. Coast Guard after "incidents" with the USCG's "civilian boys group." We could not find anyone at the U.S. Coast Guard who had heard of such a group.
• The statute of limitations for child molestation in Massachusetts was 15 years until 2006 (it is now 27). Why did nobody file criminal charges?
• Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard is a branch of the military along with the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Someone serving in the Coast Guard would not simply be "let go" for "incidents" of child molestation! This individual would go through a military trial and if found guilty, would serve very hard time in a military prison.
• After Chester got back on shore, he moved to a small town called Homer, Alaska, where "he became involved in the Fire Department's boy scout troop." We called the fire department in Homer (population: ~5,000). We were told theirs is a volunteer fire department that is not, and has never been, associated with a scout troop. There are scout troops in the area, but they are not affiliated with the fire department.
• Chester then apparently went to Oregon to work at a church group, and had a newspaper clipping on the wall to show off that he had been aqcuitted of assaulting a boy at the same church. Again highly dubious and plus, how would Frischling possibly know what was on this guy's wall at his former job, on the other side of the country, before he even met him?
• Frischling, being the crimefighting superhero that he is, tracked down "at least 80 victims" all on his own! Conveniently, nobody will discuss it, everything is past the statute of limitations anyway, and other evidence is "sealed." He claims some of the victims he tracked down "can't be tracked down." Huh?
• Chester moved to Maine where he got involved in another church, molesting boys right and left until he was facing 50 charges. He was eventually charged with six "minor-sex offender chargers (sic)." What the hell is a minor-sex offense charge?! Yet Chester, apparently the Teflon Don of child molesters, was "found to not be a threat" and "unlikely to pursue sex offenses in the future" - are you kidding?

What do you think? Do you buy the story?

Steven Frischling's Book Flop!

A few years ago Steven Frischling bragged on the SportsShooter message board that he had secured a book deal:

He wrote this in a post titled, Woohoo! I just inked a contract to author a book!

Well this morning wasn't very eventful , but this afternoon was spent on finishing up negotiations to author a book for an international publishing firm.

After a few months of discussions with an international publishing firm I just ironed out the final details of my contract to author a book for traveling photographers!
From here I figure a few more thousand miles stuck in plane seats finishing up my research, then off to crank out 135 pages of text to fill the "The Traveling Photographer's Essential Pocket Guide"
Woo Hoo!

Not surprisingly, people found his post out of place and flagged it "Off Topic."

I think I see where with the members who flagged your lead post as "Off Topic" are coming from. I will use the message board header as a guideline for the scope of the message board. The header includes the following sentence.
"This message board system is for members to share ideas about issues of importance within our community"
I agree that this topic is of importance to you and people who follow your blog, but I am struggling to make a connection with this topic and the "importance within our community." It is quite an accomplishment to be contracted to write a book and it will be a monumental day for you when the book hits bookstores across the country.

Yes, when will that book be hitting bookstores? Frischling continued,

Deadline is 1-June-2009. I hope to have it done in half that time.

He even issued HIS OWN PRESS RELEASE for the book! (Notice he leaves out the necessary apostrophe in the book title as well as other punctuation errors.)

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 30, 2008 – The Travel Strategist Founder, Steven Frischling is working on an exciting new project in conjunction with Rocky Nook Publishers- The Traveling Photographers Essential Pocket Guide, which will provide a one stop resource of information for photographers from pre-planning logistics through logistics of travel.

Here is the description of the book found here:

Globe trotting photographer, travel strategist, and consultant Steven Frischling has crafted a practical guide to planning and traveling for the working or enthusiast photographer. Steven shares his in-depth knowledge of business travel and photography, covering travel planning, choosing flights and itineraries, equipment choice and packing strategies, navigating airport security and immigration, and hitting the ground running at your destinations to get the photographs you are after. Learn from a veteran road warrior how to handle delays, find food in foreign lands on a tight schedule, find sleep in the air and on the ground, keep your equipment safe in airports, trains, buses, and on location, and maximize your travel budget. This essential guide breaks down travel tips and logistics into a format that can be quickly and easily referenced by photographers traveling for business or pleasure.

This actually is a very good idea for a book, provided it were written by anyone besides idiot Steven Frischling. Outside of the fact that he's a pathological liar and tends to rip off his content, he's really not a very good photographer. And he's an even worse photo instructor, judging by his brief yet hilarious series of instructional videos on YouTube.

However, the publishing company, Rocky Nook, liked the idea. They were so serious about it they even designed a cover. And Frischling "inked" a contract, so he claims.

It's now 2011. Here is a listing of all Rocky Nook's books to date. So where is the book?

The logical guess is that Frischling procrastinated repeatedly, made excuse after excuse and never turned anything in. He possibly demanded continual cash advances so he could fly around to do more "research." Or, what he turned in was such a stupid pile of crap that Rocky Nook (which specializes in photography) realized it was not fit for publication and canceled the project.

We quote Frischling in saying, "Woo hoo!"

Frischling Claims He Doesn't Owe Anyone Wedding Photos!

Steven Frischling finally seems willing to give people the photos they've paid for... only.... he claims he doesn't owe anyone photos! Check out these emails:

Considering only one couple does not have a DVD with their complete rawwedding images, and that person says they are not you, I need moreinformation.  Whose wedding do you want the photos from and where do youwant them sent.
As people move, I need an physical address for UPS and a wedding.

We respond by saying he should just check his records and ask why WE should do the legwork of tracking down their addresses, and he comes back with...

Because you're full of shit and only one couple never received a DVD oftheir complete wedding, however they have a full edit of their highresolution files.
So either you're lying about having been a wedding client or you are who Ithink you are.

So he claims only one couple doesn't have the photos they paid for, BUT then says they have a full edit of their high resolution files? What does that even mean?

We've heard from multiple people who say they've never received their photos, so this is just more lies.

But we enjoyed his "you are who I think you are." Wonder how long it took him to narrow down the list of people who hate him to the top 1,000?

Steven Frischling: Star Snowboarder AND Firefighter!

This may be Steven Frischling on his way to save
your life and take photos of you!

Wow, now we know how Steven Frischling got from Massachusetts to Ground Zero in only one hour on 9/11... he flew on his magic snowboard!

As he brags on the Sportsshooter message board, he was a sponsored snowboarder in his youth. Though a tragic accident ended his dreams of being Shaun White's nemesis, he still is able to ride down the side of the mountain WHILE shooting!

I was a sponsored competitive snowboard racer in the Slalom, GS and Super G from 1988 to 1991 (A) no one raced snowboards, so sponsors where somewhat easy to find (B) major accident in 1991 ended that. This has given me an edge shooting ski and snowboard racing, I usually know when and where to look when following racers. I actually ended up covering the Winter X Games in 2001 for Mount Snow (host mountain) from the course because I could ride the side of the course while shooting.

In addition to being a snowboarding pioneer in high school, he was also, of course, a professional photojournalist:

Actually I was shooting and working in high school , but most of my income came from snowboard racing. I was injured racing in the '91 US Open Super G, so I lost out on sponsor money.

However, his background is not in snowboarding nor photojournalism, but EMERGENCY RESCUE SERVICES. Wow... a news photographer by day, saving lives by night. He's positively Peter Parker aka SpiderMan! But sometimes, duty called, and instead of taking photos at an accident scene, he would step up and save the day.

My background is in EMS (now expired and out of state), on many occasions I have worked on patients awaiting the arrival of Fire/EMS. When I worked at a paper in VT there was a shortage of medical technicians, it seemed to happen pretty often I'd end up working on patients rather than shooting. Once the EMS crews were staffed I'd pick up my cameras and start to shoot.

One time, he was so intent on saving a victim he was threatened with arrest!

When I lived in New York I arrived at an MVA pin job along with two cops. Neither cop was an EMT, both just had basic first aid, both cops knew I was a news photog, neither knew my night job was as EMT-D/CTC in the Bronx, and that I volunteered with a medical rescue unit (who spent 90% of their time doing highway rescue in Queens/Brooklyn).
Anyway, I refused to release my control of the patient until someone of equal or higher certification arrived. I was threatened with arrest for some made up charge ( I think it was being a non-qualified rescuer interfering with an MVA...they contested that since I arrived as a news photog I had no right to touch the victim). Anyway, it was sorted out quickly, while I still had control of the victim. Since I was in the car and the patient was pinned I missed most photos, not releasing the victim until he was secured to a KED and the roof was removed.

While I am a news photog, and my first duty is usually to make a photo (especially while under contract to a news outlet like I was at the time) I elected to become an EMT-D/CTC, and prefer to help if I can. 99% of the time when qualified medical personnel arrive I step back and grab my cameras.

Luckily I am very expired and out of state now. I can only operate within the guidelines of the Good Samaritan Laws, which is easier.

Frischling 1, Backdraft 0

Here he goes one step further: He was actually a FIREFIGHTER. A firefighter/EMT who was issued a gun, but because of his oath to the MacGuyver Code, refused to carry it:

On the flip side, I had been part of a volunteer medical resuce team in New York for a while, some of our funding came from the DOH's MMST program (Metro Medical Strike Team, which failed and was canned pre-9/11). With the MMST funding the 18 members of the medical unit were issued guns. 17 of the 18 members were medics who were law enforcement trained....and there was a me, a full time news photographer who happened to be a Firefighter/EMT-D-CTC, I was brought in because I had water rescue training, which they needed in the unit to get more funding. I went to a fire arms class, 7 hours, and a gun was issed to the unit for me. I locked it in the trunk of the cruiser and never used it, never put on a holster for any reason. As a medic I never understood why I would need a gun.

So personally I see no reason to have a gun, even when issued one. 

What a guy.

Frischling's Changing Stories on 9/11

We've been contacted by a professional news photographer who stumbled across our humble blog and tipped us off the incredible stories Steven Frischling has been posting for years on SportsShooter.com, a message board for professional sports photographers.

This person shared with us a gold mine of information on Steven Frischling's total lack of credibility in the industry, which goes back a very long time. An email from this photographer was so great we'll just post this entire segment about Frischling's ridiculous stories from 9/11, a tragic day he exploited to bring attention to himself. Links included:

Here is a good example of how Frischling takes a simple story and turns it into a more self serving account of an event that makes him appear to be a hero. But, in typical fish fashion, the story continues to evolve over time to include acts of bravery and personal anguish. From these stories, you would think that he was the hero of the day, snapping prize winning photos of the most intense moments of 9/11, dodging falling debris. Most professional photographers would have photo evidence of things like people running away from falling debris, dead bodies on the ground and the overall pain of the situation. Not Frischling. The set of photos that he took on that day don't really jive with his over exaggerated tales, they are pretty much (bad) photos of record. A receipt, if you will, to prove he was there. But in no way do they capture the essence and horror of that day. Even his photo captions were designed to sound far more dramatic than what is really going on in the photo - like "a fire truck moves quickly away from a fast moving cloud (otherwise known as smoke in the distance). here are some of his pictures from that day - http://www.upi.com/search/?sp=t&s_l=photos&ss=frischling&offset=27)

Here is the first story from late in 2001- he talks about how he heard about it on the radio and raced to NY. He mentions a leg and a child's backpack amidst rubble and dust, but a photo has never been seen anywhere. (http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0110/voices04.htm)

In the story above, he says he arrived by 11:59 a.m.

Here is the second variation of the story from 2003- this time an editor in Germany called him and he was hit by falling debris that knocked a camera off his shoulder, never to be found. (http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=3944)
"I was dropping my daughter off at day care in Northampton, MA, 200 miles from ground zero, when the first plane hit. An editor I had worked with in Germany was calling somewhat frantically, this is still only the first plane, so I went home got my stuff and started south. When I heard the 2nd plane hit I put my foot on the gas and took off.
I got down into the city in record time hitting downtown Manhattan a little after 10:AM, and finding a parking space littererly on the sidewalk next to city hall a little before noon. 

Wow, now he's there a little after 10 a.m.! He drove 200 miles in under an hour! To downtown New York on 9/11, no less! Perhaps his pal Superman picked him up and flew him there?

I came and went from the scene to dump images into my laptop, and when #7 came down a chunk of debris took a camera off my shoulder, with a 17-35f2.8 with it. I never found the camera, but was glad I had an NC2000c in the car as a spare.

In 2004, he's still talking about losing the camera. In this thread he also talks about several other injuries and surgeries that he has had over the years, including the removal of 80% of one of his kidneys. (http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=6979)

"Ummmm, 1991, lost my 80% of my kidney = $42,000 (100% covered)
1991, had another part of kidney removed = $5,600 (100% covered)
1992 through 1993 , three more surgeries, around $14,00 = 100% covered

Various concusions, lost teeth, broken fingers, leg, rebuilt shoulder,11 procedures on my throat since 1999 all 100% covered, hospital stay, surgery, ER, doc, nurses, drugs, all 100% covered (except down time, excluding the shoulder, I was paid for my down time) ........my camera gear repair is a minimum of $500 out of pocket, so it is cheaper to break me than the gear :0)"

By the way, Frischling should have still been in high school from 1991-1993, yet these injury claims are more consistent with someone who has been in a war zone! And this thread was not simply asking complete medical history, but what injuries occurred while as a photographer.

"In certain situation, such as violent situations, or an extreme example would be having been near #7 World Trade Center when it collapsed on Sept 11, 2001, my gear was the last thing on my mind. I lost a camera body that day and didn't even go back and look for it."

2004 - Still talking about his harrowing run to safety when tower 7 came down. Still no pictures , like the ones hundreds of photographers took of towers one and two collapsing, ever emerged from Frischling. Oh yeah, for the record, building 7 of the world trade center was 47 stories, not 50+ as stated.

"I was in New York on Sept 11. I was a little more than a block when 7 World Trade Center, a 50+ floor building. I ran for my life when that building came down. I stood on ground zero on Sept 11. I looked up at a black sky....so I fully understand what happened on Sept 11 in New York City."

But the Incredible Adventures of the Photographer Steven Frischling continue! He's been threatened with treason!

MOVING ON to a story about being detained while shooting oil tanks. This one was a classic and the best thing about it was that he wrote a whole story about it on Sports Shooter as if he was holding a seminar on how to deal with the police. It is also highly unlikely that police would demand to search a car for more cameras without a warrant or probable cause.

The first story emerged in 2003 http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=1503

"I found my two shooting positions, and went to work. About five minutes into my working from my second position I notice my car is now surrounded by four patrol cars, and about six officers, two more are rapidly advancing on me as I shot from the pier.

The officers demanded Susannah's licenses and wanted to search the car for any cameras. Susannah informed them I was a news photographer, and any of the cameras from the car were with me (I was hard to miss with a 300f2.8 and 400f2.8 alone at the end of a pier). As the officers approached me they had their hands on their unflapped holsters, and ordered me to stop. I identified myself, and again was ordered to stop, so I did. As the officers allowed me to put my gear down and get my credentials out I noticed a live truck, and TV station Explorer pulling in behind the four cruisers surrounding my car."

The second story popped up in 2004 and he added a little color to it to make it a little more dramatic. (http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=10755)

In the past few years I have had friends face changes of treason, then face the charge myself for shooting that person in the place they were facing the charges.

A third story came to light in 2008 and now it is even more dramatic, the cops now have their guns drawn. (http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=29618)

"A few years ago in New Haven, CT, while photographing the huge oil storage farms for a business story (a company was sold in a multi-billion dollar deal) I was out on the end of a public pier shooting. I was wearing tan board shorts, a bright Hawaiian shirt had three bodies with a 17-35f2.8, 70-200f2.8, 400f2.8, all wrapped in bright orange & purple tape.

Prior to shoot there I had called the USCG First District Public Affairs desk and the New Haven PIO. I didn't need to, but I didn't want a problem.

At some point I noticed my wife's '83 bright yellow Volvo surrounded by cops demanding to know where there camera were. She pointed to me and cops from the NHPD, State Police and DOD Police came at me. One office, an NHPD Lt., had his weapon out of the holster screaming at me demanding to know why I was trying to hide.

......now if I was hiding would I be in plain site, on a public pier, in a Hawiian shirt with a 400f2.8 wrapped in bright purpleand orange tape?


This yutz would not accept my press credentials from the US Senate Press Photogs Gallery, the United Nations, NYPD, Mass State Police or other easily verifiable organizations. He demanded my Connecticut press credentials......Conn issues no press cards and this guy didn't seem to know that."

I have plenty more for you and will get them to you when I have time. Keep up the site, I have already sent the link to at least a dozen Frischling haters and everyone LOVES it.

Thank you for the links!

"steven frischling compulsive liar" Part 2

Web searches for "Steven Frischling compulsive liar" are apparently so common that Google now suggests it as soon as you type his name in...

Story Time with Steven Frischling!

By request, we've created an Xtranormal movie using some of the more ridiculous Steven Frischling stories, WORD FOR WORD, from his blog and Twitter. Unfortunately Xtranormal doesn't offer any Mr. Potato Head avatars, so we just picked the ugliest one available.

Enjoy!



Update - Twit Frischling tweeted this after seeing the video:

Isn't he supposed to be a "social media" expert? So why doesn't he know you can't access someone's entire "catalog" of tweets? These are all pulled from recent tweets and from random blog entries. Idiot.

Besides, the real question is, who has the time to SEND 39,000 tweets? He joined Twitter Sept. 30, 2008. That means he's averaged nearly 50 TWEETS A DAY. Does that sound like someone who has any kind of life or a job?