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In a joint release by Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf and Chief County Detective Jonathan Hess it was announced that the mother of the girl who was allegedly raped by Edward Lee Williams, Ariel Hiestand, has been charged in connection with the abuse.
The release stated that when she "became aware of the abuse at the hands of Edward Williams [... she] told the child that she once again needed to subject herself to the abuse of Edward Williams so that Hiestand could attempt to video record the abuse."
Officials now believe that Hiestand was the person who recorded the video of Williams sexually abusing the child and they claim that she showed the video to another child.
After interviews of two additional children that had been scheduled were conducted, as mentioned in Daily Voice's previous coverage. The child corroborated that Hiestand "knew about the abuse, encouraged the abuse to occur again, and obtained video footage of said abuse," as stated in the joint release.
Hiestand allegedly admitted in an interview with the Lebanon County Detective Bureau and admitted the following:
"that the child in fact had disclosed to her that she was being abused by Edward Williams and that she told the victim that she needed to allow him to abuse her again."
This was supposedly the video Hiestand initially gave the Lebanon County Detective Bureau.
Detectives arrested Hiestand on January 19, 2024, on the following charges according to the release:
An accomplice with the rape of a child.
Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a child.
Aggravated indecent assault of a child.
Production of child pornography.
Dissemination of child pornography.
Possession of child pornography.
Endangering the welfare of a child.
Magisterial District Justice Kim Wolfe arraigned Hiestand and set bail at $100,000, according to the DA although court documents to verify were not immediately available at the time of writing.
Click here to read Daily Voice's original report of Edward Williams's arrest.
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