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SOUTH OGDEN — A fast-food restaurant manager in Weber County is facing criminal charges accusing him of engaging in an illegal sexual relationship with a 17-year-old co-worker for at least three months.
Joshua Kevin Ashby, 29, of South Ogden, was charged Wednesday in 2nd District Court with 16 felonies, including 10 counts of rape and four counts of forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies; and sexual exploitation of a minor and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies.
Ashby and a 17-year-old girl worked together at a fast food restaurant in Farr West, according to charging documents.
"Josh is the manager at that location and is in a position of special trust, as he has the ability to make managerial decisions over the 17-year-old, such as scheduling alignment and other benefits. The 17-year-old female is an employee attending high school in the 11th grade," prosecutors noted in the charges.
Police were called to investigate on May 6 and questioned Ashby as part of their investigation.
"Josh admitted to his and the 17-year-old's sexual relationship. Josh admitted to having sex with the 17-year-old at this house on over 10 separate occasions," the charges state.
After the girl called Ashby on a cellphone that he provided her with and told him that police were investigating, "he instructed the 17-year-old to factory reset the phone and throw the phone away. The 17-year-old disclosed that she did what Josh told her to do," charging documents allege.
The girl's mother later found the phone in a trash can by their residence.
