Roxbury nanny, Jamaica Plain man arrested on child-porn charges
Local and federal officials this week arrested two people on child-porn charges - one a nanny who allegedly distributed sexually explicit photos of children and instructed others on how to pose children for more photos.
Stephanie Lak, 36, of Roxbury, was arraigned yesterday in Roxbury Municipal Court on charges of possession of child pornography and distribution of material of a child in a sex act. Judge Debra DelVecchio set bail at $5,000 - prosecutors had asked for $50,000 - and ordered here to stay away from children and not take a job involving childcare.
According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, which says Lak recruited parents for her nanny business on sittercity.com:
As part of the investigation, which is active and on-going, investigators discovered communications from Lak in which she identifies herself as a nanny and was in a virtual conversation with a caregiver from Minnesota encouraging him to harm children in his care and, in fact, volunteered to assist him in doing so.
The DA's office adds:
In March 2021, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) contacted Boston Police Department’s Crimes Against Children unit with information that eight separate images of child sexual abuse were being trafficked over an IP address in Roxbury. ...
On April 15, 2021, BPD and the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force executed a search warrant at Lak’s residence and seized a laptop and three smart phones. On April 27, 2021, Lak was interviewed by members of the investigative team and admitted receiving and sending about 100 files of child sexual abuse material, and to engaging in conversation with other social media users in which the abuse of children was discussed.
Separately, BPD officers armed with a federal search warrant arrested Robinson Baez-Nova, 36, of Forest Hills Street in Jamaica Plain, on Tuesday on similar federal charges.
According to an affidavit by an FBI agent in Baez-Nova's case, Google discovered "material that Google believed was child pornography" on Baez-Nova's Gmail account - some 184 images and videos uploaded between 2018 and 2020, some of which are graphically described in the affidavit.
The FBI says it found additional images on one of his phones, which had been seized by police in Nashua, NH, after a traffic stop there:
The images and videos include depictions of prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts with adults, further, images and videos depict bondage and bestiality.
Innocent, etc.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
Complete Baez-Nova affidavit | 277.4 KB |
Ad:
Comments
I think there’s a type-o with
I think there’s a type-o with his age. Affidavit has his dob as 1984.
Fixed
Thanks!
Just punishment
When will the U.S. get serious about protecting children and make sex crimes against them capital offenses?
Judge Debra DelVecchio set
Mass Bail Fund won't even break sweat over this sum.
Doubt they need a bail fund but
that's fine, because bail is not meant to be punitive.
If this person is considered to be an active danger, there's a procedure for that - the prosecutor should ask the judge that they be held without bail. The fact that they weren't willing to do that in this instance indicates that they don't think that it's enough of a risk.
I find these charges absolutely morally reprehensible, but I don't think our society would be better if a rich person would be able to get out on bail for these same charges while a poor person had to sit in prison and I'm not sure why other people think that would be a better system.
16 Up Votes
Which means that 16 people who don't have children liked your statement.
LOL!
You’ve outdone yourself with your absurdity today.
Just Trying My Best....
To emulate the absurdity of every single one of your comments.
Or, you know
People who know how the criminal justice system works liked the statement? You know, including the part where if prosecutors want to hold someone in jail without a criminal trial, they need to make that argument, with evidence, in court.
And again: how would children be safer if bail had been set at $50k and the defendants were rich enough to pay that? How does a system where rich people can avoid jail time but not poor people make us better off?
Stop it fungwah
Stop it Fungwah.. you're confusing people with factual statements.
Stop it. now.
Or I will put you in the corner with @brianjdamico (who also spews off facts...)
But that's not how it works.
But that's not how it works. ADA asks for bail that is likely to keep the offender in jail. For a rich person they ask more. Not a perfect system but better than the impossible bar of dangerousness hearing.
Not true
They ask for a bail that ensures they will turn up for trial.
Please at least read some wikipedia or other factual information before commenting on this subject again.
If you don't like how the system works...
Then advocate to change it. Bail only punishes people who don't have money.
Anyone potentially dangerous should be held due to that. Bail shouldn't even be a thing. The bail system is broken and favors people with money. Everyone knows that. The crime is irrelevant where the fairness of a bail system is concerned.
Either a suspect is safe to be released on their own recognizance, or they aren't. The idea that someone is safe enough to be free if they pay for it is just absurd.
As of 8:25 pm on 4/29/21
He has 63.
You have 11.
Go put on your codpiece and get over it.
Exactly
How rich she is doesn't actually determine the safety of letting her out.
So many things wrong about
So many things wrong about this. The state of childcare in this country is awful.
2011 Lowell Sun article about her
https://www.lowellsun.com/2011/11/28/she-found-escape-in-lowell-arts-scene/
Do we know that this is the same person?
The experimental art and music world doesn't tend to heavily overlap the world of child pornographers.
I believe it is
I found this interview with a picture: https://bostonhassle.com/a-few-questions-for-steph-lak/
Also her Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/StephGermaine/status/1362791593695211520
Looks like you're right
Just found this on the Boston Hassle Instagram:
We are devastated to learn as of this morning that someone we once trusted and respected could be capable of such appalling behavior...
I used to play shows with
I used to play shows with this person. Hope she gets put away for a long time.
It would be good for some
It would be good for some journalist to report on possible if any alternate last names that this Stephanie has used. What were her affiliations and who could have been covering this up?
She also uses the name
She also uses the name Stephanie Lak Germaine
I feel sorry for nannies and babysitters ...
... every time one of these stories hits the news. It makes nervous parents even more distrusting of childcare workers, the vast majority of whom genuinely love their charges and never do them any harm.
I also feel sorry for those children she allegedly abused and exploited.
Forest Hills Address is next to Middle School
And Baez-Nova's address on Forest Hills is right next to a middle school. Frightening to think about.