A former North Carolina pastor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography after an investigation revealed that he had been downloading the material from a computer at the church where he worked.
In a statement released last Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina announced that Ashley Crouse of Granite Falls was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for possession and receipt of child pornography. Crouse, 53, will also have to register as a sex offender after he’s released from prison. Prior to his arrest, Crouse was a pastor at a church in Caldwell County, North Carolina.
While the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not specify which church he worked at, a 2023 report from Queen City News revealed that he worked at New Vision Baptist Church in Granite Falls. The news station said the church terminated Crouse following his arrest and members viewed his behavior as the “biggest betrayal of their trust.”
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Crouse’s sentencing follows a collaborative effort between the FBI’s Charlotte Division, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office and the Hickory Police Department as part of Project Safe Childhood. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Project Safe Childhood is “a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.”
The initiative, which is led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices as well as the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, enables “federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.”
The investigation into Crouse’s possession of child pornography dates back to April 2023, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children informed law enforcement that a Dropbox user had uploaded content that constituted child sexual abuse material. After identifying Crouse as the Dropbox user, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant for the pastor’s property seven months later.
Upon searching Crouse’s office at the church, law enforcement seized a computer tower, an iPad and two thumb drives. The pastor admitted that he had used his computer at the church to “access, view and download” child pornography over a period lasting between five and six years.
Law enforcement discovered more than “1,200 videos and 450 images depicting the sexual abuse of children.” The investigation also uncovered Crouse’s use of artificial intelligence and a software program to make the pornographic material, as well as his distribution of the content through the Telegram app.
The church computer contained “a book that outlines in detail how to sexually abuse children” and “an anti-forensic science program” that he used “to permanently delete files and folders.” The sentencing of Crouse comes six months after he pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography that involved a minor who had not attained the age of 12 and the receipt of child pornography.
Crouse is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons “upon designation of a federal facility.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
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