Minnesota Guardsman Charged With Making Child Porn In Afghanistan

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota National Guardsman deployed in Afghanistan persuaded a 14-year-old girl back home to send him at least one sexually explicit photo of herself, federal prosecutors allege in an indictment charging him with making child pornography.

First Lt. Andrew Lee Schiller, 28, of Lakeville, is charged with one count of producing child porn. A U.S. magistrate judge on Wednesday ordered Schiller to remain behind bars.

According to prosecutors, between September 2013 and January 2014, Schiller contacted the girl by Skype and asked her to send him sexually explicit photos of herself. She complied, sending him several images, including at least one that was sexually explicit.

In their request for pretrial detention, prosecutors also alleged that Schiller used various social media services to communicate with girls between the ages of 13 and 17. After contacting the girls online, Schiller directed the conversation to sexual topics and tried to persuade the girls to send sexually explicit videos or images of themselves to him, prosecutors contend. Schiller allegedly shared sexually explicit images of himself to encourage the girls, sometimes promising them money or alcohol.

In a statement, Guard spokesman Col. Kevin Olson said military investigators determined there was enough evidence to refer the case to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Olson said Schiller enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard in February 2007 and was deployed with the Litchfield-based 849th Mobility Augmentation Company to Afghanistan in August 2013. Schiller is a member of the Guard but "is pending separation from the military," the statement read.

Schiller's defense attorney, Marsh Halberg, said Wednesday he had just been retained and not had time yet to review the case.

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