ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A St. Petersburg woman faces more than 40 child pornography-related charges, including four counts of capital sexual battery, for forcing her 11-year-old daughter to perform sexual acts on video, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
To protect the victim, the identities of both the 34-year-old suspect and the girl won’t be released, the agency said.
Detectives began their investigation after learning that a 38-year-old man was involved in obtaining child pornography and meeting with young children.
Investigators learned that he got the child pornography from the St. Petersburg mother, who was forcing her daughter to perform sexual acts on the suspect, herself and the family dog, the sheriff’s office said.
The woman would record and photograph these acts and share them with the man, investigators said.
She was arrested on Monday and charged with the following, SPDD said:
Four counts of capital sexual batteryThree counts of lewd or lascivious molestation13 counts of transmission of child pornography13 counts of sexual performance by a childThree counts of sexual activities involving animalsFour counts of aggravated child abuseOne count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device
Sheriff Gualtieri states “Just to show you the magnitude of the problem, since January of this year, just here in Pinellas County alone, we have booked 84 different people into the Pinellas County Jail on child pornography charges involving about 900 charges of possessing or distributing child pornography,” Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said. “Think about that; that’s 900 different videos of kids mostly in the 5- to 12-year-old range engaged in perverse sex acts for the pleasure of adults who seek, obtain and watch these videos.”