A woman from Lower Paxton Township has been sentenced to several decades in prison for recording videos of herself and her husband engaging in the sexual abuse of a child.
Ashley Phy, 28, of Manor Drive has been sentenced to a prison term ranging from 20 to 40 years for the sexual abuse of several children, as stated in court documents.
Phy and her spouse documented their exploitation of at least five children through several hundred videos uploaded to Verizon’s Synchronosis cloud storage from August to October 2023, as stated in the charging documents filed against them last November.
Over 600 files containing videos of child sexual abuse were uploaded to Synchronosis from August 3 to October 21, 2023. The Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crimes Task Force reported receiving 15 separate notifications via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to authorities.
Certain videos showed a male engaging in the sexual abuse of a child, while others featured a female in similar acts. Authorities have identified the age ranges of the children featured in the videos, categorizing them as 4 to 8 years old, 8 to 10 years old, 10 to 12 years old, and 12 to 14 years old, as stated in the charging documents.
Authorities utilized the Synchronosis complaints to secure a warrant for a search of Phy’s residence. During the execution of a search warrant on Christopher Phy’s phone on November 20, state police discovered a video depicting Ashley Phy inappropriately interacting with a two-year-old, as stated in the charging documents.
The blue wall in the background seemed to align with the promotional images for hotel rooms at Woodspring Suites that were shared online, according to court documents.
Christopher Phy, 38, had a history as a registered sex offender under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law.
Ashley Phy entered a guilty plea on May 6 to 23 charges, which encompass serious offenses such as involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, child rape, aggravated indecent assault of a child, unlawful contact with a minor, sexual exploitation of children, and endangering the welfare of children.
On October 17, Judge Edward Marsico delivered the sentence.
The case in Dauphin County Court centered solely on the sexual abuse portrayed in the videos, rather than on offenses related to child pornography. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is taking legal action against Phy for charges related to the possession of child pornography.