genderberg.com - Mother Facing Charges for Soliciting Daughter Online

Denise Royal - All Headline News Staff Writer

Martinez, California (AHN) - A 22-year-old woman is under arrest after police found e-mail correspondence allegedly indicating that she would sell her 4-year-old daughter for sex. Police say they received a tip from the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children that Shannon Nicole Woods was soliciting her child. According to police, Woods solicited men for prostitution through posting on the popular website Craigslist.

Police served a search warrant on Woods' home Tuesday and seized laptops and videos. Police say she has no criminal history. In separate online conversations through e-mail and chat groups, Woods agreed to meet for sex. When the man offered $500 to have sex with her daughter, she didn't object to it, an investigator said.

Woods was arrested on suspicion of offering a minor under 16 for lewd and lascivious acts. She is being held at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond on $50,000 bail. Police will present evidence to the district attorney's office Monday.
More than 2,900 cases of online child prostitution have been reported to the congressionally mandated tip line, which was started in 1998 to help fight Internet crimes against children.

In 2004, 559 cases of online child prostitution were reported, compared with 142 cases in 1998, according to the national center's Web site.