Pa. woman charged with distributing tape of herself sexually abusing girl

A Western Pennsylvania woman has been charged with assaulting a child and producing child pornography related to a video of herself allegedly abusing a 10-year-old girl, the attorney general’s office announced Wednesday.

Carissa Vadala, 19, was arrested on Friday after law enforcement in South Carolina discovered a video which allegedly depicts Vadalasexually abusing the victim.

“The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office in Walhalla, South Carolina, contacted the Office of Attorney General regarding evidence recovered during a separate child pornography investigation,” a press release from the attorney general’s office stated.”The evidence consisted of a video that allegedly showed a woman sexually assaulting the 10-year-old victim.”

Further investigation led officials and officers from the South Pymatuning Township Police Department to execute a search warrant at Vadala’s home.

“It was determined that Vadala was in fact the woman perpetrating the sexual abuse in the video found by investigators in South Carolina,” the attorney general’s office said.

How Vadala encountered the victim was not reported and the criminal complaint was not immediately available from the attorney general’s office. Prosecutors also did not say how Vadala disseminated the video to someone in South Carolina, or how many people she shared the video with.

Vadala is charged with indecent assault of a child,involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a child, production of child pornography, dissemination of child pornography, sexual exploitation of children and related charges.

Vadala’s bail was set at $250,000 and she remains in Mercer County prison, according to the attorney general’s office.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled in the case for June 8.