BALTIMORE, Md. – An Aberdeen, Maryland, woman pled guilty in federal court today, to child sexual exploitation charges.
Ashley Graybeal, 27, is charged with sex trafficking a child, sexually exploiting a child, and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea with Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI – Baltimore Field Office; Alison M. Healey, Harford County State’s Attorney; and Sheriff Jeff Gahler, Harford County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the plea agreement, beginning in January 2025, Graybeal began using her Kik account to contact other Kik users. Graybeal offered other Kik users sexually explicit images of two minor victims, or to perform sex acts with the two children via livestream, in exchange for money.
Graybeal then sent sexually explicit images of the two children to other Kik users and received payment for those images through an online banking app. The images were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through their Cybertipline, in February 2025, and law enforcement acted quickly to intervene and recover the two children.
This case is 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 Attorney’s 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 individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.
Graybeal faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years for Sexual Exploitation of a Child as well as up to lifetime supervised release and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI, Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office, and Harford County Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn and Reema Sood who are prosecuting the federal case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.