Osceola sheriff’s office employee arrested for stalking, filing false police report, deputies say

POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – An Osceola County Sheriff’s Office employee was arrested Sunday after she was accused of stalking and filing a false police report.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, on Friday, May 26, Ashlyn Crews, 24, of Mulberry, contacted detectives to report a man, who she claimed was “taking photographs on a cell phone of her daughter” while at a UPS store in Mulberry.

While inside the store, Crews said she saw an elderly couple walk into the business and told deputies she saw the elderly man take photos of her daughter.

The 24-year-old then confronted the man. After giving her access to his phone to prove he did not take pictures of her daughter, Crews alleged that she saw “numerous photos of children” but none of her child.

PCSO said Crews looked into the man’s recently deleted photos and reported that she saw pictures of her child in the file. Later that day, she contacted the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to report what had happened.

The sheriff’s office said Crews told deputies that while looking in the deleted photo file, she “found six photographs of her child and two photographs of a boy and girl who were naked.”

When asked why she didn’t provide this information during the first initial report, Crews stated that she “was not given the chance.”

According to PCSO, Crews spoke with two different Polk County deputies regarding this incident. She also made a Facebook post providing information relating to the incident as well as the names of the man and his wife and some of their personal information, including where his wife worked.

Then, on Saturday, the man’s wife found out about Crews’ Facebook post through friends as she does not have social media and contacted her work supervisors to see if she was going to be suspended or terminated.

In an interview, the man told deputies that he and his wife went into the UPS Store Friday, and while waiting inside, he began “playing with the lighting setting on his phone’s camera when Crews began accusing him of taking photos of her child.”

He then told Crews that he didn’t take any photos and showed her his phone. However, Crews confronted the couple in the parking lot and demanded to see his phone. When asked to see his deleted files, she took his phone and refused to give it back to him.

When authorities spoke to a witness, the witness confirmed that she saw the man playing with his phone and had his camera open but did not see him take photos of Crew’s child.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office stated that at this point in the investigation, they do not believe the accused man did anything wrong.

As for Crews, she was arrested for grand theft, accessing an electronic device without permission, stalking and harassing, and two counts of filing a false police report.

PCSO stated that Crew is a telecommunicator for the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

At this time, she is currently being without bond in the Polk County Jail until her first appearance, which is scheduled for Monday. It is unclear if she is still employed with OCSO.

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