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Press Release
Press Release
SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, woman convicted of Possession of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place on December 16, 2024.
Asha Graystone, age 34, was sentenced to ten years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, restitution in the amount of $6,000, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100. Upon release from federal prison, Graystone must register as a sex offender.
Graystone was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2023. She pleaded guilty on October 2, 2024.
The conviction stemmed from incidents between December 6, 2022, and January 10, 2023, when Graystone knowingly possessed digital files depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Graystone has a prior state-level conviction for possession of child pornography out of Minnehaha County, South Dakota in 2020 for which she received a probation sentence.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the Sioux Falls Police Department, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Ebert-Webb prosecuted the case.
Graystone was allowed to self-surrender to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service on or before January 6, 2024.