An ongoing investigation in South Charleston has led to the arrests of three people involved with child pornography, including a woman who troopers say used her in-home daycare for her boyfriend to have access to child victims.
Monsters walking in plain site. How sickening.
On Wednesday, 36-year-old Vanessa Beauvais was arrested and charged with “two counts of distributing and displaying obscene matter to a minor and two counts of employment or use of a minor to produce obscene matter or assist in doing sexually explicit conduct, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.”
Last month, Â her boyfriend – 50-year-old Christopher Rush – was arrested in connection to the investigation, and has been charged with employment of a minor to produce obscene matter or assist in sexually explicit conduct.
The investigation started in early February when registered sex offender James Lewis, 59, was interviewed by Senior Trooper J.M. Massile about internet crimes against children.
This is when Massile learned that Lewis had been in communication with Rush via an encrypted app on his phone.
Fox News Illinois reports:
In those conversations, the trooper said Rush told Lewis he had access to a 2-year-old child and sent pictures and videos of the child to Lewis. Massile said that this included a picture of Rush sexually touching the child, along with videos of him kissing the toddler.
Lewis was arrested the same day he was interviewed and charged with 16 counts of giving false or inaccurate information as a lifetime registered sex offender. He is currently being held in the Western Regional Jail on a $50,000 bond.
The following day, the trooper identified Rush and Beauvais and spoke with them at an apartment in South Charleston.
During the interview, the trooper said he learned that Beauvais babysits children at her home and the children he observed on Lewis’ phone are children she watched through her home daycare service.
According to a list of providers from the West Virginia Department of Human Services, Beauvais was licensed for up to six children at her home located at 4401 Jones Street in South Charleston.
Rush was arrested on Feb. 11 and remains in the South Central Regional Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
After seizing Rush’s cell phone, troopers said they discovered messages between him and Beauvais that included conversations about Beauvais openly masturbating in front of children while babysitting. Court documents said the evidence also included a video of her masturbating while children could be heard in the background.
Massile stated in the criminal complaint, “This conversation continues with both Beauvais and Rush speaking about how ‘hot’ and erotic the sexual conduct around children was to them.”
Beauvais is being held at the South Central Regional Jail with a $500,000 cash only bond. She faces a preliminary hearing on March 28th.