MCCORDSVILLE — A woman told investigators she had been molested several times beginning when she was 12, court records state. The allegations have led to the arrest of a McCordsville man who is now facing four felony counts for sex crimes against a child.
Travis Michael Asher, 29, 7000 block of West County Road 500N, has been charged with two Level 1 felony counts of child molesting and two Level 4 felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor stemming from incidents in August 2014 and January 2016.
The statute of limitations on sexual assault cases varies, chief deputy prosecutor Aimee Herring said. In this case, prosecution must have begun before the victim turns 31 years old.
The case against Asher was opened Friday, July 23, in Hancock County Circuit Court, and Asher was booked into the jail on Sunday, July 25. Asher made his initial appearance Monday, July 26, where a $75,000 cash bond was set with the condition the defendant have no contact with the victim.
According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators learned of the allegations against Asher in August 2020 and started what turned into a lengthy investigation.
The victim told investigators she met Asher through relatives when she was a child in 2013.
The victim told officials Asher began to touch her inappropriately at a home in New Palestine in 2014, the affidavit said. The victim told officials she didn’t want Asher’s advances. Other unwanted encounters occurred later, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, she also was sent sexually explicit photos via social media and that Asher threatened to kill the victim if she ever told anyone about the relationship.
The victim told officials she was scared of Asher and that he had slapped her in the face during an argument, the affidavit said. The victim confided to a cousin in 2017 about what was happening, and word eventually made it to the girl’s parents, the report stated. The parents, however, only forbid Asher from seeing their daughter again and didn’t inform police of the allegations.
Detectives spoke with the mother of the victim, the affidavit said, who told police she was aware of what happened to her daughter, but that Asher had been a close family friend for years.
The victim’s mother presented officials with a letter dated June 18, 2017, that she had written with her husband to their daughter. The letter said they were aware of the sexual relationship with Asher. At the time, the victim would have been 15 years old, the affidavit said.
The most serious charges against Asher carry a sentence of up to 40 years in prison. A pretrial conference has been set for Wednesday, Sept. 15, and a jury trial is set for Tuesday, Oct. 19.
As of the Daily Reporter’s deadline on Monday, Asher was still an inmate in the county jail.
