LITTLE ROCK— Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, New Orleans, announced today the guilty plea of Christian Trey Ashcraft, 41, of White Hall. Ashcraft is the owner of Ashven photography and a former high school photographer in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas, area.
On January 5, 2016, Ashcraft was charged with one count of lying to a federal agent and one count of internet stalking. Wednesday, before United States District Court Judge Kristine G. Baker, Ashcraft pleaded guilty to internet stalking in exchange for the dismissal of the count charging him with lying to a federal agent. Judge Baker will sentence Ashcraft at a later date.
The charges in the Indictment are based on an investigation that began in August 2014, when a minor disclosed to the Maumelle Police Department that Seth Ganahl had previously asked her to engage in illicit sexual activity on multiple occasions. A search of Ganahl’s email account revealed that he was emailing with the user of fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com, who was purporting to be a 15-year-old minor female.
During the email exchange, Ganahl repeatedly asked the user of fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com to send him sexually explicit photographs. Agents then developed information that led them to believe that Christian Trey Ashcraft was the real user of fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com. Agents interviewed Ashcraft on December 30, 2014, and he denied being the user of fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com.
On April 15, 2016, Judge Baker sentenced Ganahl to 240 months’ imprisonment for production of child pornography.
On January 13, 2015, agents obtained a federal search warrant for fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com. In analyzing the contents of the email account, agents learned that Ashcraft communicated with multiple individuals while posing as different young teenage girls.
Agents also observed that Ashcraft, using fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com, sent sexually explicit photographs of an adult female, referred to in the Indictment as J.D., pretending to be her to several individuals over a significant period of time. Agents discovered the identity of J.D. and subsequently interviewed her.
During the interview, J.D., who is now in her mid-twenties, disclosed that she met an individual who identified himself as “Chad Reynolds” on a website known as hotornot.com when she was 15-years-old. Between the time J.D. was 15- and 18-years-old, “Chad Reynolds” and J.D. engaged in an online relationship without J.D. ever seeing “Chad Reynolds” in person.
J.D. explained to investigators that after she turned 18, “Chad Reynolds” asked her to take part in a photo shoot at a local hotel. Upon arrival at the hotel, “Chad Reynolds” was not there, but Ashcraft, posing as a photographer friend of “Chad Reynolds,” told J.D. that “Chad” wanted her to start the photo shoot without him there. During the photo shoot the photographer had J.D. take multiple sexually explicit photographs. J.D. identified a photograph of Christian Trey Ashcraft as the photographer.
Soon after the photo shoot, J.D. ended her online relationship with “Chad Reynolds.” After J.D. ended her online relationship, the sexually explicit photographs taken from the hotel room were sent to J.D.’s acquaintances from an individual purporting to be J.D via the fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com account.
Ashcraft later admitted to being the user of fun_e_gurl_2000@yahoo.com and sending the sexually explicit images of J.D., while pretending to be her. A search of Ashcraft’s computer revealed approximately 800 images of J.D., many of which were sexually explicit.
“As Mr. Ashcraft has learned, you cannot commit crimes and hide behind apparent anonymity on the internet,” Thyer said. “These type of stalking crimes are serious, and can ruin people’s lives. We will continue to seek out and punish those who prey on the innocent and vulnerable on the internet, and continue to ask all parents to closely monitor their children’s internet use.”
Internet stalking, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2261A(2)(B), carries a penalty of not more than five years’ imprisonment, not more than three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. This investigation was conducted by the Arkansas State Police and HSI. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kristin Bryant.