Ashleigh Watts (Chesapeake County Sheriff’s Office)
A 37-year-old mother in Virginia was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing 15-year-old twin brothers who lived across the street and were friends with her son.
Ashleigh Watts was taken into custody last week and charged with three felony counts of indecency with a child for her alleged conduct with the two minors, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
According to a report from Portsmouth, Virginia, NBC affiliate WAVY-TV, the investigation into Watts began with an anonymous tip provided to the Chesapeake Police Department on Feb. 22, 2023, regarding the 37-year-old’s alleged sexual relationship with both underage teens.
Authorities said they learned that Watts’ husband earlier in February came home one evening and found his wife topless on their couch. Alongside her was one of the 15-year-old boys, who the husband reportedly said was “pretending to be asleep.” When questioned by his parents, the boy reportedly said that he had gone to Watts’ home to smoke marijuana and fell asleep on the couch.
A neighbor also confirmed the suspicions of Watts’ husband.
“[The neighbor] told him that [redacted] confided in her that he has been having sex with Ms. Watts since June 2022,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit. “[Redacted] told her that he and Ms. Watts were in love and when he turned seventeen (17) years old, she was going to divorce her husband and they were going to get married.”
Watts’ husband and one of the boys’ parents told authorities their families at one time were “very close friends” to the extent that “each house had an open door rule where the family members between both families would come and go out of the other’s residence.” The parent further told police it was common for the twins to be at the Watts residence because Watts and her husband had a son who was close in age to the twins.
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One of the twins went missing in July and was reported to authorities as a runaway, the affidavit said. But about three weeks later, police went to the Watts home looking for the boy. Watts initially told the officers to wait outside while she put on a bra and put the dogs out.
“Officers advised several minutes later that Watts returned to the door with her two dogs still in the residence, allowing them to enter,” the affidavit states. “As officers removed the mattress in an upstairs bedroom, they were able to see a white male juvenile hiding in a small space that was only wearing boxer briefs. When asked by officers if he was [the runaway boy], he advised he was and presented his Learner’s Permit.”
Watts provided the boy with some clothes before he was taken to Chesapeake Juvenile Services.
The other twin told police that Watts often touched him inappropriately and gave him marijuana, PEOPLE reported.
The boys’ parents and Watts’ husband filed protective orders against her after her arrest, WAVY reported. In court documents filed by Watts’ husband, he reportedly described drugs, a pre-paid phone, and stacks of cash found in the house after the arrest.
Watts is scheduled to appear in court again in October.
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