By Kelsey Givens

Police raided the residence of a Nye County School District psychologist last week as part of a child pornography investigation in Tonopah. Among evidence seized from the home were explicit photos depicting at least one minor victim tied to a bed.

Perry Hood, 69, a former Round Mountain junior varsity basketball coach and a psychologist assigned to the school district’s rural northern sector, was charged with 21 counts of possession of child pornography. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail in the Tonopah jail.

After his arrest on Jan. 22, Hood reportedly told investigators that the photographs they found were research he was doing to better understand young victims of sexual abuse. Authorities were tipped off to the suspected pornography after police in Peoria, Ariz., received a complaint about Hood following a visit he made to the area.

The search of Hood’s home yielded more than 90 pages of photos depicting young females in various states of undress as well as additional photos of what appears to be a young female blindfolded and tied to Hood’s bed.

According to an NCSO police report, on Jan. 9 Det. John Krause of the Peoria Police Department contacted NCSO Detective Duane Downing to talk about a case he was working in Arizona that might have ties to Tonopah.

Krause told the detective that in December a Tonopah resident identified as Hood was visiting Peoria at which time he allegedly lured a minor child into posing in an explicit manner as he photographed her.

The Peoria officer said he wanted to come to Tonopah to execute a search warrant at Hood’s residence, located at 197 Prospect St., to which the NCSO detective agreed and offered to assist.

As Downing looked further into the suspect’s background, he discovered Hood was a school psychologist who worked with students from Tonopah, Round Mountain, Duckwater, Gabbs and Beatty. Hood had worked with the school district for several years, reports indicate.

When police served their warrant at Hood’s home, he was briefly interviewed by detectives. Police reports in the case say that he admitted to downloading child pornography from the Internet. He told police he kept the explicit material in a blue folder next to his bed. That folder was seized as evidence. It contained 92 photos of children in various poses. Though some of the photos depicted young girls fully clothed, 12 pages of photo compilations as well as an additional nine photos found in the folder showed prepubescent girls engaging in sexual acts, according to police reports in the matter. Another two photos reportedly showed a young female tied to a bed. Upon closer inspection, officers were able to see that the bed in the photos matched the one sitting in Hood’s bedroom. Deputies also seized a desktop computer, flash drives, CDs, paperwork, clothing and tapes from Hood’s bedroom during their search.

Police reports indicate that besides downloading the material, Hood is suspected of arranging for children in Round Mountain, where he lived up until a few months ago, to pose for some of the photos.

Besides searching his home, police also recovered evidence from two vehicles located there, one registered in his name and the other to the Nye County School District.

Detectives later went to Tonopah Middle School to search Hood’s work space, where deputies reportedly seized papers, including one document on how to recognize a victim of sexual assault and steps to take once the victim is identified.

After he was placed into custody, reports show Hood was interviewed again on Jan. 23 by detectives from both Nye County and Peoria. Hood again claimed he had originally downloaded the pornographic images from the Internet in an effort to understand, as a child psychologist, what young victims of sexual abuse go through.

According to the police reports in the case, Hood said several months earlier that he had clicked on a link to a pornographic website, where he said he was shocked by what he saw. He said when the page opened he was going to close the window but then he became curious. Hood said he had planned to get rid of the photographs soon.

When detectives began questioning him about the two photos of the girl tied to his bed, Hood claimed they were harmless and that the girl was excited to get tied up.

According to Hood, the two had been watching TV together at his home on one of the last days of summer last year when he began telling the girl about old television shows and how it looked when people were tied up and photographed. He said he then asked the girl if she wanted to try it, to which he claimed she was excited about the prospect and decided she would participate.

Hood said he then proceeded to tie her up in different positions and photograph her, showing her the photos when they were done.

When asked if he had ever taken any other photos like those before, Hood allegedly told police there had been a boy in Round Mountain who he met at the community swimming pool and photographed in a cowboy costume at the edge of town.

After Hood told police more about the photos found in his bedroom, detectives started to ask him about what was contained on his computer and media storage devices.

Hood told the officers there weren’t any photos on the computer, as he had deleted them all, but there would be pictures of a young female relative and her best friend from Arizona. Hood said he photographed the two girls, fully clothed in poses they chose to make.

Getting to the Peoria case, a detective then asked about massages Hood had allegedly given the girls. He admitted to giving the girls massages, but said it was only on their backs and that he never touched them in their private areas.

When asked about a specific time Hood allegedly rubbed one of the victim’s bottoms, he admitted to the act, but claimed that he had only rubbed the child there over her clothes because there are so many muscles that come together there. Once the interview concluded, detectives from both Peoria and Tonopah determined further investigation is needed to determine if there are any more victims or crimes Hood has committed based on the information he disclosed.

The Nye County District Attorney’s Office has since filed criminal charges against Hood for one count of use of a minor in producing pornography or as subject of sexual portrayal in performance and four counts of possession of child pornography. Hood also faces multiple felony charges in Arizona.

As of Tuesday, Hood remained in custody at the Tonopah Detention Center.

According to a statement from the office of NCSD Superintendent Dale Norton, Hood has been removed from his position as school psychologist pending further investigation.

His name, contact information and biography were removed from NCSD’s official website after a reporter from the Pahrump Valley Times began making inquiries into the case on Monday.

The school district declined to comment further after releasing a brief statement, which also occurred only after a reporter began making inquiries. No one at the school district, a trustee included, would say whether district officials even bothered to alert parents to the allegations against Hood. Superintendent Dale Norton was not available for comment.

Sheriff’s authorities also failed to make public Hood’s arrest, despite the seriousness of the charges. Sheriff Tony DeMeo said an administrative error had occurred.

Hood will appear in Tonopah Justice Court Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. for a preliminary hearing in his case.