Updated – 2:21 p.m. – District 16 Del. Ariana Kelly will not face criminal charges after being arrested during a domestic dispute on June 27 and being charged with indecent exposure and trespassing.
The Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office issued a statement Tuesday saying the incident will be resolved in family court.
“The incident involving the allegations against Ms. Ariana Kelly has been reviewed by this office,” said Ramon Korionoff, the state’s attorney’s office spokesman, in a statement. “We have concluded this matter is better suited for family court. In many divorce situations, custody, control and transfer for visitation of children can result in very emotional confrontations. We determined this matter, after intense and thorough review, was just such an occurrence. We discussed this incident with Ms. Kelly’s former husband, he requested the charges be dropped. All parties are involved in on-going parental counseling through the family court.”
Shortly after the criminal charges were dropped, Kelly and her ex-husband released the following statement:
"We thank the Montgomery County State's Attorney for electing to discontinue the prosecution of the alleged charges relating to this incident. We also thank the Montgomery County Police Department for its judgment and common sense. Divorce is an emotional and unfortunate circumstance and we both regret our actions that contributed to a mutual misunderstanding. We are moving forward together to make this transition as easy as possible for our children. We request privacy during this time," reads the statement.
The dropped charges were first reported by The Washington Post.
Police wrote in court documents that the incident began when Kelly was dropping off her children at the Bethesda home of her ex-husband, Barak Sanford. She reportedly became angry that Sanford’s fiancé was in the home. When police responded, Sanford showed them a video recording he took through a glass door of Kelly ringing the doorbell “numerous times” and exposing her breasts and shaking them in the direction of the camera. Police wrote they arrested Kelly after she declined to leave.
Kelly and Sanford divorced in 2014. Kelly was reelected for one of three District 16 delegate seats last year. The Bethesda native has been a delegate since 2011.
