AP News, September 12th, 2007
Officials with Albuquerque Public Schools confirmed Wednesday that a substitute teacher accused of videotaping up the skirt of a young student had taught for years at various schools within the district.
Robert H. Ashley, 63, is wanted on one count of voyeurism of a child after staff at Atrisco Elementary School found a camera with footage of a student's legs as she sat at her desk.
Authorities questioned Ashley and searched his home Friday. When they returned Monday with an arrest warrant, a neighbor told them Ashley had moved.
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White said detectives are pursuing Ashley on the assumption that he fled, but they aren't ruling out that he might have moved because of unwanted attention.
Since August, Ashley was a substitute teacher at Atrisco. He also worked as a first-grade teacher at the school from January to August, district spokesman Rigo Chavez said Wednesday.
Ashley worked in special education at Kit Carson Elementary School from 1998 to 2001 and held various substitute jobs from 2005 to 2007.
Chavez did not provide the names of which schools had hired Ashley as a substitute.
White said deputies found paperwork indicating Ashley also served as a teacher in California and possibly as a substitute teacher in Nevada and Colorado.
The New Mexico Public Education Department's Ethics Bureau is investigating Ashley, who holds teaching licenses for elementary and secondary education. The bureau can revoke or suspend licenses for ethics and criminal violations.
Last week, staff at Atrisco Elementary found the video camera inside a backpack in the teacher's lounge. Principal Linda Corona, an educational assistant and another teacher viewed the video to determine the bag's owner. They shut it off when they saw the student and Ashley, and called school district police.
A school counselor who heard about the incident called the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department the next day.
According to a criminal complaint and affidavit, Ashley admitted to investigators that he is attracted to young girls, especially their feet.
Ashley also admitted to filming children at the playground near his apartment and at baseball games.
District spokesman Joseph Escobedo said no students or parents have reported that Ashley touched children inappropriately.
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Information from: The Albuquerque Tribune, http://www.abqtrib.com
