MAJOR CHILD RAPIST: JOHN SILAS ASHLEY, 36, OF VAN LEAR, KENTUCKY; WAS ARRESTED ON SEPTEMBER 12 BY KENTUCKY STATE POLICE, INITIALLY ON A PAIR OF MISDEMEANORS, BUT WAS CHARGED A WEEK LATER WITH 201 VARIOUS COUNTS OF RAPE, ALONG WITH A TRIO MOF CRIMINAL ABUSE, IN CONNECTION TO THE SAME CASE HE WAS ORGINALLY TAKEN INTO CUSTODY FOR.
John Silas Ashley, 36, of Van Lear, KY., was originally arrested on Thursday, September 12, as Kentucky State Police Post 9 in Pikeville began investigating claims of child sexual abuse.
A minor girl told Kentucky State Police that John Ashley had been molesting her and her sister, and that she had recorded video evidence on her phone, but that John Ashley took the phone from her and erased it. John Ashley was arrested at that time for *TAMPERING WITH PHYSICAL EVIDENCE; and *ASSAULT, 4TH DEGREE (MINOR INJURY), for allegedly hitting the girl multiple times in the back of the head.
The arrest citation, written by KSP Post 9 Trooper Matthew Smith, said that, on the day of the initial arrest, KSP Post 9 Detective James Cress was made aware of a sex abuse allegation in the Van Lear community and made contact with a female minor as of his arrival, who advised that John Ashley, 36, of KY. Route 2381, of Van Lear, had been molesting her and another female minor. The minor also advised she had recorded video evidence of the assault but that John Ashley had found the video and “made her delete it,” the citation said.
KSP Detective James Cress began conducting a search warrant at the residence and, after advising the alleged victims’ mother of the allegations, the mother advised John Ashley to give her the phone, and she also said that John Ashley had told her to hide the phone in “her boss’s car.” The victims’ mother said she could get the phone back, and the phone was located shortly thereafter, the citation said, but had been factory reset.
According to detective Cress, while speaking with the mother’s boss, the vehicle’s owner did not perform the factory reset and that he wasn’t aware the phone was in his vehicle, according to the citation, until the victims’ mother called and asked to get the phone back. The victims’ mother said she did not perform the factory reset and didn’t know about any of this, and thought that the alleged minor victim had “lost her phone due to getting in trouble with her boyfriend.”
The mother further advised detective Cress that John Ashley was the one who had performed the factory reset and that when she was given the phone, the screen was black and she assumed it was turned off, according to the citation.
In a separate arrest citation, KSP Post 9 Trooper Dylan Mullins stated that he was dispatched to the same area of Van Lear and found evidence that Ashley had assaulted a juvenile by allegedly smacking the child several times in the back of the head.
On Thursday, September 19, the KSP sexual abuse investigation resulted in John Silas Ashley being charged with one count of: *RAPE, 1ST DEGREE; 130 counts of: *RAPE 2ND DEGREE-NO FORCE; 70 counts of: *RAPE, 3RD DEGREE, and three (3) counts of: *CRIMINAL ABUSE, 3RD DEGREE. Details of the allegations have not been made public by Kentucky State Police Post 9 in Pikeville.
John Silas Ashley is being held in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville on a $50,025 full cash bond only.
The case remains under investigation by troopers with KSP Post 9 in Pikeville, and that more charges could be possibly filed.
