Alaska State Troopers have arrested a husband and wife from Palmer on charges of sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.
The first arrest, of 34-year-old Brandon Muston, occurred Jan. 21 after the Microsoft Corp. alerted the troopers' Technical Crimes Unit that one of its users had attempted to email "known images depicting child sexual abuse" to another user, according to a trooper dispatch.
Troopers seized electronics from Muston's home and arrested him on charges of possession of child pornography.
Upon examining the electronics, troopers identified "multiple images and videos depicting child sexual abuse." Evidence indicated that Muston and his wife, 34-year-old Tabatha Muston, had sexually abused a juvenile in 2013 and 2014, the dispatch said.
Last week, a Palmer grand jury indicted Tabatha Muston on charges of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. Brandon Muston was indicted on second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful exploitation of a minor and 21 counts of possession of child pornography.
On Monday, troopers arrested Tabatha Muston in Wasilla. By evening, she was in custody at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility in Palmer and her husband was in custody at the Goose Creek Correctional Center in Wasilla.