Former Nanny, Previously Charged with Producing Illegal Images of Children, Gets New Charges!

A California woman who was formerly employed as a nanny has been brought up on the most hideous of charges. Authorities believe that she took and sent photos of a child in her care THEN allegedly molested the child.

Michelle Nicole Hidalgo, 28, was arrested in late September and charged with seven felony counts of “production and distribution of child pornography,” according to a press release issued by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.

“Officers served Hidalgo with a search warrant at her home and seized equipment used in the production and distribution of pornographic images of minors,” the press release reads. “The search of Hidalgo’s home and her arrest came after task force members were notified by a social media company on September 21st that child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) of a small child were being shared on their platform.”

Hidalgo allegedly admitted to sharing the images, law enforcement says, telling an investigator it was a “stupid” mistake that happened once, according to court records obtained by the East Bay Times.

Officials say that Hidalgo, when she was being arrested, admitted to taking the photos of the 8-month-old baby but lied about videos. Until officials checked her cloud storage and found concrete proof. Law & Crime also reports that according to prosecutors, the defendant agreed to send additional pictures of the child and perform oral sex on her. According to law enforcement, the man asked Hidalgo to commit “worse and worse” crimes against the girl and to create content of that requested abuse, the Times reports, citing court records.

Hidalgo has been been charged with three counts of child molestation of a victim younger than 10 and one count of using a minor for sex acts.

Her bail was set at $700,000. After the latest charges, her bail was raised to $3.4 million, according to jail records.