Higher Bond Sought for Woman Accused of Abusing Daughter

Citing the disturbing nature of alleged abuse against her 4-year-old daughter, prosecutors sought reinstatement of a higher bond Monday in New Baltimore for a St. Clair resident.

Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor William Harding asked Judge William Hackel III to increase the defendant's bond from $50,000 to the original $200,000 cash/surety amount.

During the woman's video arraignment on Saturday, March 26, from Macomb County Jail, Judge Jennifer Faunce set the bond at $200,000. However, when the suspect was formally arraigned in the New Baltimore's district court, a magistrate lowered the bond to $50,000, Harding said.

Hackel told Harding to file paperwork seeking the higher bond and, following a defense request for discovery, set a preliminary exam for 9 a.m. May 11.

The suspect, whose name Patch is withholding to protect the identity of her daughter, appeared in navy blue jail garb, shackled at the waist. She frequently looked across the courtroom to an emotional group that included her mother who declined comment following the brief proceedings.

Harding said the defendant is unemployed, lives with her mother and does not have custody of her two children, ages 3 and 4. The slew of charges against her stem from alleged criminal activity involving the older child.

Late last month, deputies from the Macomb Area Computer Enforcement team, also known as MACE, arrested the woman. They were acting on information from a Chesterfield Township man who notified the FBI of his interaction with the defendant.

The township man reported meeting her on a dating website. They engaged in a one-on-one chat and text message exchange on their cellphones. During that time, the woman forwarded him a live video stream of her and her daughter in a "compromising position" and then offered her daughter to him, according to the Macomb County Sheriff's Office.

After he reported the incident, detectives executed a search warrant on the woman's home and placed her under arrest. Her daughter and her other child were handed over to a relative and the Department of Human Services was notified, police said.

The woman was charged with one count of a 20-year felony of child sexually abusive activity, two counts of using a computer to communicate with another to commit a crime and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes. The second and third charges are also felonies that are punishable with anywhere from four to 20 years imprisonment upon conviction.

When asked about the circumstances in this case, Harding, who is chief of the Internet and ID Theft Unit, said, "I've been in this unit long enough to say nothing surprises me."

Report Internet predators to Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children at http://www.michiganicac.com/ or macombsheriff.com.