A New River, Arizona, woman is accused of sexually abusing her two young children and selling the unsettling footage to a man over the Internet.
Keri Harwood, 28, allegedly filmed herself bathing and molesting the two children, ages 6 and 3, for a man who possibly lives in Texas. The woman supposedly told police that she produced the videos because she was broke and that she didn’t want to disappoint the man, who she had been sexting for months, The Republic reported.
Court documents revealed that Harwood allegedly admitted to sexually abusing her children on five occasions. The suspect also admitted to molesting her kids in the bathroom while her husband was at work, KSAZ reported.
A tipster unearthed the recordings after Harwood allegedly provided him with her email account so he could catch Pokémon for her in Pokémon Go, a popular phone application. Using that email account, the tipster discovered the incriminating videos and PayPal transactions from the Texas man and alerted police, according to KPNX.
Harwood reportedly told officers that she met the man online and he paid her to masturbate on Snapchat livestreams. She also purportedly disclosed that the man paid her $500 to $600 dollars over the past several months for the illicit videos.
“We expect that parents are going to care and protect their biological children, or any children, this is egregious,” Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone told KPNX.
“Now complete strangers on the opposite side of the world will pay to see a product such as this which is so disgusting and offensive and a child is victimized.”
Harwood is charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor, five counts of sexual exploitation of a child for recording the videos, and five counts of sexual exploitation of a child for selling the videos. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office announced they are searching for the man who purchased the footage from the 28-year-old.
The New River woman is being held on a $150,000 bond.
[Featured Image: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office]