Woman posed as photographer to steal newborn, police say

A Washington state woman and her 16-year-old daughter were arrested Friday afternoon after the woman allegedly posed as a baby photographer and drugged a mother in an attempt to steal her newborn.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department in Tacoma, Washington, said that a woman called 911 on Feb. 5, telling emergency responders that she was experiencing numbness, drowsiness, and instability on her feet and was vomiting. She said that she believed she had been drugged.

Upon receiving treatment at a local hospital, the woman filed a police report with the sheriff’s department in which she said she had accepted an offer from a woman in a Facebook baby group to take photos of her newborn for free as a way of building her portfolio.

The Facebook profile of a woman police say posed as a baby photographer.Facebook via Pierce County Sheriff’s Dept.

The woman — a 38-year-old resident of Spanaway, Washington, who allegedly carried the aliases of “Juliette Parker,” Juliette Noel” and “Juliette Gains” — visited the victim’s home three times to take photos, where she was seen taking selfies with the baby and allegedly wiping her fingerprints from items she touched in the home.

“During the third incident, the suspect and the suspect’s teenage daughter gave the victim a cupcake to eat; the victim reported feeling numb and drowsy immediately after eating the cupcake,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “The victim told the suspect and her daughter to leave her home. After they left, the victim noticed that the suspect had stolen her house keys.”

Detectives working on the case said they conducted multiple interviews and obtained numerous search warrants, identifying additional victims and uncovering the suspect’s plot “to steal a newborn baby to raise as her own.”

“When the whole thing unraveled her house keys were missing, she remembers her wiping prints down in the kitchen,” sheriff’s Det. Ed Troyer told NBC affiliate KING in Seattle. “We were able to find through search warrants and communication through social media and texts a plot we put together that obviously shows she was attempting to find an infant to take out of state and raise as her own.”

The suspect and her daughter face multiple felony charges, including attempted kidnapping and assault, after they were arrested at their home in Spanaway, about 44 miles south of Seattle.

The woman was also allegedly involved in a bomb-making incident, KING reported.

“It’s turning out to be a very colorful background on our suspect,” Troyer told the outlet.

Deputies with the sheriff’s department donated money to buy the victim new locks for her doors and window guards, which they also helped her install.

source: nbcnews.com