{"id":13676,"date":"2026-02-03T03:35:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T10:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/plea-hearing-delayed-for-former-jail-commander-accused-of-invasion-of-privacy\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:39:48","slug":"plea-hearing-delayed-for-former-jail-commander-accused-of-invasion-of-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/plea-hearing-delayed-for-former-jail-commander-accused-of-invasion-of-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Plea hearing delayed for former jail commander accused of invasion of privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Edward
Edward Aber, former commander of the La Plata County, Colo., jail, walks through the facility in Durango, Colo., Dec. 13, 2022. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald via AP, File)<\/span>(Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald via AP, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Former La Plata County Jail Cmdr. Ed Aber, who is accused of viewing strip-search videos of more than 100 female inmates for his own sexual gratification during his tenure, was scheduled Monday for a plea hearing or to proceed to trial.<\/p>\n

Instead, the plea hearing was postponed for a second time.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors and defense attorneys, citing the case\u2019s scope and sensitivity, have agreed to multiple extensions since proceedings began in August.<\/p>\n

A new plea hearing has been scheduled for March 2.<\/p>\n

According to an arrest affidavit, Aber used his administrative access to evidence.com to watch strip-search videos depicting \u201cclose-up vantage points of the intimate parts of at least 117 female inmates\u201d more than 3,000 times between Feb. 14, 2019, and Jan. 14, 2024.<\/p>\n

The former commander faces 117 counts of invasion of privacy and one count of official misconduct \u2013 all misdemeanors.<\/p>\n

Aber\u2019s lawyer, Barrie Newberger King, said Deputy District Attorney William Davis had presented a plea deal but more time was needed to consider the terms.<\/p>\n

Davis also said more time was needed to contact victims and ensure compliance with the Victim Rights Act<\/a> before approaching any potential changes in plea proceedings.<\/p>\n

La Plata County Judge Richard Schmittel granted the extension, citing the case\u2019s classification as a victim rights case, which guarantees alleged victims fairness, dignity, privacy, protection and a voice in proceedings.<\/p>\n

Schmittel said some alleged victims are anxious to see proceedings move forward and emphasized this would be the final extension.<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attorneys continue negotiations in case involving 117 counts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[133,168,28,867,1024,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-courthouse","tag-la-plata-county-jail","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13676"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19103,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13676\/revisions\/19103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13676"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}