FRESNO - A Madera County woman pleaded guilty today to sexual exploitation of children, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott. Ashley Maddox, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the production of child pornography before U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd.
According to court documents, in June 2017, Maddox came to the attention of law enforcement during a child pornography investigation of a man in Florida. An examination of the Florida man’s electronic devices revealed that between November 2015 and April 2016, he and Maddox had communicated, via the internet and on their cellphones, about their mutual sexual interest in minors.
Maddox requested that he send her images and video recordings that depicted the Florida man sexually abusing a prepubescent minor victim. Maddox received from him over 20 images and videos that depicted the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Maddox also created and sent to this individual images and videos depicting a prepubescent minor.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, a federally and state-funded task force with agents from federal, state, and local agencies. The Central California ICAC investigates online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement, and sex trafficking. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents in Fresno, California and Fort Pierce, Florida investigated this case. The Madera County Sheriff’s Office assisted early in the investigation. Trial Attorney Nadia Prinz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa of the Eastern District of California are prosecuting the case.
Maddox is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Drozd on August 26 in Fresno. She faces a minimum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
