Dad 'sick' after learning mom sold sexual videos of their toddler for drug cash, Indiana cops say
An Indiana father said he couldn't resist checking the cellphone of Jamie Simms, the mother of his 3-year-old child.
"She was asleep and had left her phone out," he told WLKY. "I had suspected she had been lying about her whereabouts."
The man, who wished to be unidentified, told the TV station that what he found left him "angry, sad, sick."
The 23-year-old mom molested her sleeping toddler, police say, and then sold the video to men online in places like Kik and Reddit. According to WAVE3, Simms allegedly confessed to police that she wanted to sell the videos so she could receive drug money.
But Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said that he wasn't moved by Simms' side of the story.
"Harming children is another category of offense (when) that happens," he told WLKY, "I'm not sympathetic to the argument that drug addiction caused this."
Simms, who was arrested last week, appeared in court on Thursday, the News and Tribune reported. She is accused of sending the video to five men, police say, and receiving about $200 for them.
She faces one charge of possession of child pornography, two charges of child exploitation and a single charge of child molesting. All are felonies, according to the News and Tribune. She faces up to 42 years in prison if found guilty on all charges and has a $50,000 cash-only bond.
A conviction would also mean Simms, who has a 1-year-old child with the same man, has to register as a sex offender.
Mull, who called the case "unspeakably disturbing," added that there could be additional arrests in the case as the investigation continues. That includes those who bought the pornographic videos, he said.
"As of this moment (Simms) is the only one charged," Mull told the News and Tribune. "However that's subject to change if I am able to establish criminal cases that I can prove against other individuals that were involved."
The alleged molestation happened even though Simms "was only here a couple hours a week to see her kids," the father alleged to WAVE. He said he's now left trying to explain the situation to his daughter, who "doesn't know anything that happened."
"But, she has been asking, Where is mommy?" he said. "I don't know what to say to her."
This story was originally published April 27, 2018 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Dad 'sick' after learning mom sold sexual videos of their toddler for drug cash, Indiana cops say."