This mother of five is accused of sexually exploiting her daughter. ROMULUS -- A 33-year-old Taylor mother is accused of brokering a deal on the Internet to allow a man to have sex with her 7-year-old daughter while she photographed them in a case described by veteran police as "disgusting" and shocking.
According to investigators with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, the mother -- who is not being named to protect the identity of her child -- told undercover officers she planned to sell the photographs to child porn collectors to make money.
A judge Sunday afternoon set a $1 million bond for the woman, who faces four felony counts of child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to communicate with another person to commit a crime.
She is also charged with a misdemeanor count of prostitution. The woman is being held in the Wayne County jail.
"This is the most disgusting and exploitive situation I have ever been involved with in law enforcement in 35 years," said Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans, whose Internet Crime Unit thwarted the woman's plans Friday evening.
Starting in December, the mother began communicating with an undercover deputy about prostituting herself, Evans said. The woman mentioned she wanted her daughter to begin modeling and suggested the child had been in sexually exploitive situations, escalating the probe.
Money was the motive for the deal, Evans said. The woman set the cheapest rate for photos of her daughter and the highest price for sex with the child, Evans said.
Deputies arrested the woman after she arrived with the child at 6:30 p.
m. Friday at a Romulus hotel near Detroit Metropolitan Airport, where she had agreed to meet the man so he could molest the child.
Evans said the woman brought a duffel bag containing sex toys and another containing children's clothing.
The woman told the deputy he could "try anything with her daughter if the price was right," Evans said.
She also told police "she would make sure that her daughter would comply with whatever the man wanted to do to her."
An arrest video showed the mother from the neck down, wearing jeans and white tennis shoes, with her hands cuffed behind her back.
It also showed an investigator talking to the 7-year-old with long light-brown hair, whose face was obscured.
It was not clear whether the daughter was aware of what had been planned for her, Evans said, adding deputies made the arrest calmly so as to not upset the child.
The video shown by police to reporters depicted two outfits the mother had taken to the hotel room for the child to wear during the encounter: a white lace dress with straps and red and pink striped dress.
Neighbors who knew the mother and her family -- four girls and one boy ages 6-12 -- when they lived in a small single-story home in Taylor said they had little money and often borrowed lawn mowers and tools to take care of their tiny yard. They moved from the neighborhood last year after being unable to pay the rent.
Evans said his investigators are looking into whether any of the woman's four other children have been molested.
All five children have been placed in protective custody.
Judge Vesta Svenson set an April 12 preliminary exam in Romulus District Court. If convicted, the woman faces up to 20 years in prison.
It is the latest child porn case involving the Internet, in which young children are being offered for sex in exchange for money.
The former CEO of a Warren-based credit union will be sentenced Wednesday on charges he used the Internet to arrange for sex with a 5-year-old girl.
David Rauch, 53, of Clinton Township was arrested by Macomb County Sheriff's deputies in November after chatting online with an undercover investigator from the Macomb County Sheriff's Office.
The officer, who was posing as a mother of two, exchanged messages with Rauch, who messaged that he wanted to have sex with the girl at the mother's "home" in Clinton Township.
A California paramedic was arrested Feb. 23 by Macomb deputies on a similar charge.
Brian Flaherty, 37, of Chino Hills, Calif., faces a federal charge of crossing state lines to induce a child to have sex after he responded to an undercover officer posing as a single mother who was looking for men to have sex with her children.
You can reach Jennifer Chambers at (248) 647-7402 or .
Detroit News Staff Writer Santiago Esparza contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Detroit News. All rights reserved.
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