In separate cases, criminal prosecutors in King County, Washington and Delaware County, Pennsylvania have charged the same 20-year-old Virginia man with felony sex offenses after he used social media to arrange hook-ups allegedly resulting in sex with young teen girls. Charged in King County with Rape of a Child 3 and in Delaware County with a series of alleged sex crimes is Ashley Ryan Hareford. He is now being held in lieu of a $1 million bond in a Delaware County jail. Although the alleged sex acts with a 14-year-old runaway foster child for which Hareford is charged in King County occurred in May of 2012, the case was not referred to King County for possible prosecution until late January 2013 and charges were filed just more than two weeks ago, on April 1. Despite having aroused suspicions almost as soon as he arrived in Puget Sound last May, Hareford was able to skate out of town within days of admitting to Puyallup Tribal Police he had had sex with the girl, who he claimed had told him she was 18. When she finally came forward in October with a different story, he was long gone. She said he used Facebook and Myyearbook.com to build trust with her before hitchhiking cross-country to meet in person.
By no later than Nov. 30, say Delaware County authorities, Hareford had again used social media, in this case the chat app Party In My Dorm, to successfully woo a 13-year-old Radnor Township, Pennsylvania girl upon whom he allegedly also perpetrated a series of felony sex offenses. Whether and when he will have to fully answer for the Washington state child rape charge is unclear at this time.
Hareford, 20, of Grottoes, Virginia, first bubbled to the surface in Washington around 6:30 p.m. last May 16 when a concerned citizen called Puyallup NationTribal Police to report he’d just spoken to Hareford and the 14-year-old girl, and was concerned a kidnapping was unfolding. They had described to him a variety of sex acts they said they had committed and were kissing and fondling each other in his presence. The witness said he encountered them walking along the Bay Street train tracks in Puyallup.
A police officer then located them and learned they were hitchhiking to Virginia Beach and that the girl was just 14. Hareford was arrested for obstruction after cursing the officer when his identification was requested. At that time, the alleged vicim did not share details with police beyond saying Hareford was her boyfriend and they had only been kissing. Tacoma Police turned her over to Child Protective Services for return to her foster grandmother. However, interviewed by Puyallup Tribal Police, Hareford waived his Miranda rights and admitted much more. According to the police report included in the King County charging papers, he revealed he met the girl a year earlier on Facebook and Myyearbook.com and had hitchhiked to Washington over the course of two months to see her. He added in the interview at the Puyallup Tribal Police station in Tacoma that when he arrived on May 15 he and the girl “had sex for the first time in a grassy field that same day” and that she had claimed she was 18 and only admitted to being 14 after having sex.
But when the alleged victim came forward for a forensic interview in mid-October, she gave a different story. She said Hareford claimed he was 16, not his real age of 20 and that he knew she was 14. She added they had sex twice, vaginal and anal, once near a Walgreen’s in Kent and “out in the forest by Kent High School.” The report says “prior to each act” they “huffed computer dusting spray to get high.” But by the time of the October forensic interview of the alleged victim, absent any earlier corroborating information from her, Hareford was long gone. His account at one of numerous social media sites he used show him saying goodbye on May 19 to a girl and adding, “I’ll be back in four years.” On May 30, he posts he is moving back to Virginia. On July 2 he says he is moving to Portland, asks if “any girls wanna hang out?,” and gives his phone number.
By November 30, according to court documents in Pennsylvania, he had travelled back east and had used the online chat application Party In My Dorm to entice a 13-year-old Radnor Township girl into a five-day liaison that allegedly included intercourse in the woods at night near King of Prussia Mall and also her performing oral sex on him on a hill near train tracks. After the girl’s father alerted police to her disappearance December 3, an eastern U.S. search for her began with aid from multiple police departments and the U.S. Marshal’s Service. The Marshal’s Service found them in D.C. December 4. On December 12, Hareford, was charged in Delaware County, Pennsylvania with six sex offenses stemming from the time spent with the girl. He is being held on bail of $1 million in cash and remains incarcerated, Delaware County Assistant District Attorney Pearl Kim confirmed to Public Data Ferret. No trial has started yet, and news reports indicate a plea agreement is not out of the question.
Meanwhile, Hareford was to be arraigned on the King County charges this Monday April 15. The clerk’s minutes show no plea entered. Under Washington State Law, Rape of a Child 3 is a Class C felony, punishable by incarceration for not more than five years or a fine of not more than $10,000 or both. The crime is defined as having sex with someone age 14 or 15 whom is at least four years younger than the alleged perpetrator.
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