Throw away the key....

[Dr Mordrid]

Disgusting story....

TAYLOR, Michigan (AP) -- A 33-year-old woman was arraigned Sunday on charges alleging she offered to let an undercover investigator take pornographic photos of her 7-year-old daughter and have sex with the girl, authorities said.

The woman was arrested Friday after taking the girl to a hotel in Romulus, near Detroit Metropolitan Airport, where she had agreed to meet the investigator, the Wayne County sheriff's department said.

A not guilty plea was entered on behalf of the woman, who wasn't represented by a lawyer at the arraignment, department spokesman John Roach said. She was held in lieu of $1 million bail, and a preliminary examination was scheduled for April 12.

Authorities said the woman offered to let the investigator take the photos for a fee and, when she met with him, discussed being paid in exchange for sex with the child, the Detroit Free Press reported.

"This is truly a horrifying case," Sheriff Warren Evans said in a statement. "To think that a woman would offer up her own daughter in this way impossible to comprehend."

The girl and her four siblings, ages 12, 11, 9 and 6, all were in protective custody, Roach said.

The name of the woman, who lives in this Detroit suburb, wasn't being released to avoid identifying the child, the sheriff's department said.

She faced five charges, including child sexually abusive behavior, illegal use of the Internet for child sexually abusive actions or materials and distribution of child sexually abusive material, Roach said.

She also was charged with prostitution, since the department said she propositioned the investigator herself. The department said the woman advertised herself online as a prostitute.

If convicted, she could get up 20 years in prison.

[Brian Ellis]

Assuming she is guilty (which has not been proven), 20 years is about right. However, the agent provocateur is also guilty of abetting the crime. Such a sting operation would be difficult to prove as no real crime was committed other than an offer made, if I understand it correctly. And is prostitution a crime in Michigan?

[Dr Mordrid]

Prostitution is illegal everywhere in the US for both parties save for a few counties in Nevada, and there I think only in bordellos.

Stings are legal here and proof is easy in these days of micro-cameras and FM mics. The police use them for trapping johns with fake hookers all the way up to drug dealers & dirty congressmen or even bad cops.

One local mom & pop sells surveillance gear to all the surrounding cities and individuals. They have stuff James Bond would envy. Even small cities have such equipment, even on their patrol cars, so 90% plus of taped cases & stings are plead out before trial because juries love videotape.

The key is criminal intent by the perpetrator. Show the intent (the offer) and the trap springs, you don't necessarily have to complete the act (depends on statute & jurisdiction).

In Wayne County where this happened the County Sheriff runs a child sex crimes task force. Task force deputies set up accounts in chat rooms impersonating underage kids and when they get hit on (Deputies say it averages 20 minutes) they string the perv on. All their chats are saved and the ISP's will do the trace.

Eventually one will want a meet for sex, and when they show at the agreed upon locale they're busted under the "Illegal Use of the Internet" statute and of course the whole thing is videotaped. Once that happens their house & computers get searched and if kiddie porn is found the FBI is called in. Federal charges & sentencing are stiff, and there is no parole in the Federal system.

Besides the State charges they get placed on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry, which is searchable by locale or name and obviously available to the public.

Check it out. All you need to enter is a valid Michigan ZIP code. 48180 is part of Taylor, where the above case happened. That ZIP code has 6 pages of sex offenders with ~20/page.