Ron Welch
Muskingum County Prosecutor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 6, 2026
Former Muskingum County Adult and Children Protective Services Worker Sentenced to 6 ½ Years
(ZANESVILLE, OH)
On July 6, 2026, Ashley Steele, a former employee of Muskingum County Children Services, appeared in the Muskingum Court of Common Pleas to be sentenced for a string of charges that stem from Steele tampering with government records.
Steele previously admitted guilt to the following: two counts of Tampering with Records, and one count of Attempted Tampering with Records; all felonies.
Steele appeared before Judge Gerald Anderson who sentenced Steele to 6 ½ years in prison.
Details of Steele’s Crimes:
Steele began her employment with Children Services with lies. She advised Children Services she lacked a criminal record. When a background check revealed a criminal record, she said it was expunged: also, a lie. To support that lie, she forged a court filing about the State not opposing the sealing of her record.
Further investigation revealed that not only was Steele’s record not expunged, but it was also not sealed. Actual court records showed that the State of Ohio opposed sealing and that the Guernsey Court of Common Pleas denied sealing.
After discovering Steele’s lies to gain employment, Children Services reviewed her work product throughout her employment. As a children-services case worker, Steele lied repeatedly about meeting clients. She entered those lies as official government records that Ohio’s children-service teams rely on to help families and protect children.
“Steele’s history of lying to deny responsibility goes back a number of years and continued all the way through her pre-sentence investigation,” said Prosecutor Ron Welch. “She stole from a previous employer and lied about it, she lied to Children’s Services when applying for a job, she created a fake court document to try to hide her lies, she made up reports in her job and then lied during the pre-sentence investigation. Those lies have now resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Her job was to protect children, but what she did was lie to protect herself. That behavior will not be tolerated and the sentence she received is proof.”
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