An Indiana woman is admitting to allowing a man from her community to "buy" a baby eight times and being in the room for all the encounters, except the last one, the Sun-Times Media Wire reports.
Natisha Hillard, a 25-year-old from Gary, Ind., pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in Hammond to her crimes. According to the Media Wire, she met alleged abuser Christopher Bour in 2011 through a dating service, and met up at her place. During this meeting, Bour inquired about the two girls she had access to, who were 4 months old and 3 years old during this time.
Hillard reportedly told authorities that she sold the children to Bour because she needed the money and she was paid extra to let him be alone with the child during the last incident.
The crimes lasted from September 2011 to February 2013, when one of Bour’s acquaintances alerted the FBI after he invited her to take part.
According to the Sun-Times, Hillard agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster that she was present in the photos found on Bour’s computer, which show Hillard in the background as Bour inappropriately touched one of the children. She also admitted to letting Bour take explicit pictures of the older child at least once.
"He didn't tell me what he was going to do with them," she said, claiming she didn’t know if Bour shared the photos with others.
Hillard, who is being held without bail, is facing a mandatory-minimum sentence of 30 years to life in prison for selling a child.
Bour is also being held without bail but has pled not guilty.
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