News Photo by Julie Riddle Bradley Avery, top right, appears via videoconference in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Thursday, accompanied on screen, clockwise, by Judge George Mertz, defense attorney Dan White, and Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski.

ALPENA — Bradley Avery, a former Alpena County Fair Board treasurer accused of recording video of teenage girls changing clothes during a beauty pageant in 2017, has one month to admit to wrongdoing or his case will go to trial, a judge ordered on Thursday.

Police arrested Avery in 2020 after an investigation of Avery’s financial transactions uncovered videos of the unclad girls and thousands of pornographic images — some allegedly depicting minors — on Avery’s devices, police say.

Police say Avery, who served as queen’s pageant committee head for several years, filmed three then-15-year-old girls using a camera hidden in a storage room where they changed out of their pageant dresses.

Avery said through attorney Dan White that police couldn’t prove someone else hadn’t created the videos found on the computer Avery used for his work with the Fair Board.

Police also couldn’t prove several alleged pornographic images of children, found among thousands of adult pornographic images found on Avery’s phone, actually depicted minors, White said.

Avery’s case has lingered in court since his arrest in May 2020, a series of motions and adjournments stalling resolution of the case.

On Thursday, Judge George Mertz, of Otsego County’s 46th Circuit Court, extended a deadline to allow White more time to review digital information received this week.

One more month is all the time he will give, Mertz said. If Avery offers no guilty plea at that time, the case will go to trail.

Mertz is presiding over Avery’s case because 26th Circuit Court Judge Ed Black prosecuted Avery when he served as Alpena County prosecutor before assuming the judgeship.

Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski said she has extended a plea offer to Avery.

In July 2019, Avery was sentenced to six months in jail and a year’s probation for embezzling money from the Alpena Agricultural Society while he served as Fair Board treasurer.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.