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.” 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