FALLON, Nev. — A former Army recruiter in Fallon will stand trial on charges he took lewd photos of local high school girls interested in joining the military.
Richard Cory Asher, 35, is accused of using a minor in the production of pornography and distributing materials depicting pornography involving a minor.
He was bound over during a preliminary hearing in Churchill County Justice Court on Thursday to stand trial in district court. A trial date has not been set.
Asher allegedly took digital photographs last fall of a 17-year-old high school girl who met Asher at the Fallon recruiting office, the Lahontan Valley News reported in Monday’s editions. The photos depict various sexual acts, police said. Asher was immediately removed from his recruiter position by the Army upon his arrest last spring and was banned from the high school, the newspaper reported.
The girl, who turned 18 in July, testified at the preliminary hearing Thursday that she asked Asher to take nude pictures of her while they were in a rented room at Best Western last October.
She told police their relationship was consensual and she did not want Asher to be prosecuted.
Asher allegedly admitted to the crimes in a statement he wrote for Army investigators.
“I showed a total lack of professional judgment in this. I am sorry and apologize for this. I am sorry for what this does to the Army, my command and my fellow soldiers,” Asher wrote.
Asher, who lived in Dayton in May when he was arrested, was ordered by his commanding officer to meet with Special Agent Darren L. Von Feldt, a criminal investigator for the U.S. Army based in Seaside, Calif.
Von Feldt testified the former staff sergeant was questioned about recruiter misconduct, a broad term that covers a wide range of possible offenses by soldiers. He said he worked with the Fallon Police Department while investigating the allegations.
Fallon detectives were able to use software that restored digital images deleted from a camera Asher voluntarily gave to police. A police report states there were 166 images recovered and 15 were linked to the criminal case.