The Bonteheuwel woman accused of selling naked pictures of her four-year-old daughter on the dark web is allegedly a known porn star in the community.
The 32-year-old woman was arrested by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March, it was revealed last week, and is due back in court on 19 August.
She was nabbed after an agent from the US Homeland Security pretended to be a buyer and traced her to Bonteheuwel via geo tagging, after she allegedly received payments through online pay platform PayPal.
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said the investigation was still under way with a list of charges.
The suspect has five children all under the age of 12, who have since been placed in the care of family members, reports the Weekend Argus.
Neighbours said the woman was known in the street for allegedly making her own pornographic home videos involving adults.
“That morning we just saw people stopping in black SUVs in front of the house,” said the neighbour, who asked not to be identified.
“She was arrested the same day and never came back home. We heard afterwards it was the FBI, people from Interpol, who came to arrest her.
“But this pornography issue is not the first time she is involved in. She used to make videos of herself with adults from the community, I saw one of these videos.”
The woman’s family said they were shocked at the developments.
“We never knew this was going on,” said a relative.
“Our only concern now is the children and we cannot comment as this is very sensitive.”
Some of the children are staying with the woman’s sister.
Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez’s spokesperson Joshua Chigome said they were aware of the case, adding that “decisions will be made in the children's best interest.”
The case is also being investigated by the Film and Publications Board (FPB), with manager Lynette Kamineth saying a thorough analysis of the material would be made to ascertain whether the persons depicted are children (i.e. under 18).
Weekend Argus