MONROE, MI (NBC) A Michigan mother is facing charges after FBI agents arrested her for an unthinkable crime.
The woman appeared in a Detroit federal court for a detention hearing Wednesday afternoon after she was charged with sexually exploiting her daughter by selling her photos on a child pornography website.
Police said the crime was discovered after the FBI found sexually explicit photos of the woman's young daughter on an alleged sex offender's computer in Jackson, Tennessee during a raid.
The FBI Memphis Crimes Against Children Task Force set up a sting to find the people who set up the child porn Web site where the Tennessee man got the photos.
Police said the 45-year-old mother met agents at a Western Union in Toledo, and that's how they discovered her involvement.
When the woman's Monroe home that she shared with her convicted sex offender boyfriend and two children was raided, investigators found more than 500,000 photos of her daughter in sexually explicit outfits engaging in sexually explicit acts, according to the FBI.
The woman told investigators that her 52-year-old boyfriend, James Frazee, had been taking the photos of her daughter, who is now 15 years old, for more than seven years.
The mother admitted to investigators that she knew Frazee had been convicted in 1990 of raping his biological daughter when she was under the age of 13 years old.
She also admitted to helping Frazee set up the site, and to being present when he took the photos of her daughter.
The FBI alleges that the two made more than $1,000 a month from the site.
Frazee was charged Tuesday with production and possession of child pornography.
He's in the Monroe County Jail in another case and has not appeared in federal court in Detroit. The mother remains in custody. It's not known yet if she'll be remanded or bonded out.
Authorities are not identifying the mom in order to protect her daughter.
Shocked neighbors said it seemed like a normal and happy household.
"They seem like a real nice couple stayed to themselves," said neighbor Robert Origel.
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