A Pennsylvania National Guard recruiter was arrested Saturday near Youngstown, Ohio, after his wife told police she had discovered indecent videos of her daughter on her husband’s phone.
Nathan Clinger, 32, was taken into custody by officers from the Poland Township Police Department and charged with pandering obscenity involving a minor after he allegedly filmed his wife’s 11-year-old daughter using the bathroom and changing clothes, The Vindicator reported.
Other reports initially listed Clinger as an Army recruiter, but Military Times confirmed through U.S. Army Recruiting Command and the National Guard Bureau Public Affairs that he belongs to the Pennsylvania National Guard.
“This is very sad news. Obviously these allegations are very serious," Lt. Col. Keith Hickox, spokesman for the Pennsylvania National Guard, told Military Times.
"We take them very seriously, as they run counter to our core military values.”
The Pennsylvania National Guard is currently cooperating with local law enforcement, Hickox said, but could not comment further until a full investigation is completed.
In conversations with police, Clinger’s wife, who was not named in the report, claimed the Guardsman ran up thousands of dollars worth of charges on pornographic websites over a span of recent months.
Additionally, Clinger’s wife talked with his ex-wife, who claimed he once had a computer containing child pornography but destroyed it, the report said.
When taking Clinger into custody, police confiscated his phone as potential evidence, but in an inconvenient twist, the officer placed the phone on top of the police cruiser, then forgot about it before driving away.
The phone then fell and the screen shattered as the police car pulled away from Clinger’s residence.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will examine the smashed phone to see if there is any evidence, police Chief Brian Goodin told The Vindicator.
Goodin also noted it is not believed the 11-year-old girl had been physically assaulted by Clinger, the report said.
Clinger is being held at the Mahoning County Jail on $75,000 bond.
He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
Jon Simkins is the executive editor for Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
