SPOTSYLVANIA COURTHOUSE, Va. — A Spotsylvania County woman is facing 12 counts related to child pornography on Wednesday after the sheriff's office was tipped off to an online account where the woman allegedly uploaded and stored pictures of exploited children.
Ashley Kriesten, who lives in Spotsylvania Courthouse, was arrested by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office Monday at her house in the 9600 block of Leaf Lane after police got a warrant to search her devices.
Deputies found that the Spotsylvania Courthouse woman had not only been stashing porn on her devices but also may have been taking pictures of children and abusing the children herself.
On top of the ten counts related to possession, reproduction, distribution and facilitation of child pornography, Kriesten also was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery.
"The identity and relationship of the juveniles are being withheld for their protection," the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office said on Wednesday.
Kriesten's arrest was unique in that only a small portion of child pornography cases in The United States involve women offenders. In 2023, the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that 98.8% of child pornography offenses were committed by men.
The Eastern District of Virginia, which includes Spotsylvania County and most of Northern Virginia, had the most people sentenced for child pornography cases out of any judicial district in the country in 2023, with 55 people sentenced in Northern Virginia last year.
In September, a Fairfax County after-school program coordinator was arrested for filming students and owning child porn. And on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., parents at an elite D.C. preschool received disturbing news when they learned that the head of school had been arrested on child exploitation and child porn-related charges.
