A man who works as a maintenance worker at Fayette County Public Schools was arrested Monday on multiple charges related to child pornography, according to a Lexington Police Department report filed in Fayette District Court.
James Asher, 42, has been on administrative leave from Fayette schools since January, when officials learned of an investigation involving him, Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said. He said officials do not believe the charges are related to Asher’s work in the district.
“While we cannot share many details, I want to assure our families, staff and community that prompt and appropriate action has been taken to ensure the safety of our students,” Liggins said in a statement to the Herald-Leader on Tuesday evening. “Until an arrest occurred, we were unable to communicate with voters about this situation. However, we can now share that a third-party law enforcement agency notified us of this investigation in January. We immediately placed the maintenance worker on administrative leave and he did not return to work. At this time, we have no reason to believe that the allegations in this case occurred on any of our campuses or that they are related to his work.”
Asher is charged with 25 counts of possession of matter depicting a sexual performance of a minor under the age of 12, one count of distribution of matter depicting a sexual performance of a minor under the age of 12, and one count of possession of matter depicting depicts a sexual performance by a minor under the age of 12. and 18, possession of marijuana and purchase/possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court documents.
According to a police complaint, he had “24 files containing child sexual abuse material.”
The files showed child pornography, children with other children or adults, the citation said.
Asher used “an online peer-to-peer network” to distribute at least one file, the citation alleged, downloading and uploading an explicit photo of “children.”
An attorney identified in the lawsuits as representing Asher did not immediately comment Tuesday evening.
Asher was being held Tuesday at the Fayette County Detention Center on $10,000 bail, according to court records.
