Roxbury Woman Who Worked as a Nanny Held on Child Pornography Charges
BOSTON, April 28, 2021— A Roxbury woman who worked as a child caregiver was arraigned in the Roxbury Division of Boston Municipal Court today on child sexual abuse material charges, District Attorney Rachael Rollins announced.
STEPHANIE LAK, 36, of Roxbury, is charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of material of a child in a sex act. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Poirier asked for $50,000 cash bail. Judge Debra A. DelVecchio set cash bail at $5,000 with a series of conditions including staying away from children under the age of 18, and no employment involving childcare.
ADA Poirier told the court that Lak, as recently as last month, was active on sittercity.com, a web-based marketplace for nannies and sitters, for several years. She posted as Stephanie Lak on the website.
The prosecution team will continue to carefully gather and scrutinize the evidence in this case. As part of the investigation, which is active and on-going, investigators discovered communications from Lak in which she identifies herself as a nanny and was in a virtual conversation with a caregiver from Minnesota encouraging him to harm children in his care and, in fact, volunteered to assist him in doing so.
“There is no bigger betrayal than people tasked with teaching, protecting, or caring for children sexually exploiting and violating them. And to be very clear, possessing and disseminating child pornography hurts children. Do not be fooled. Each still image or video chronicles an act of violence, sexual assault and/or rape. And when those images or videos are shared with other pedophiles online, that child is abused and victimized in perpetuity,’’ said DA Rachael Rollins.
“The alleged perpetrator in this case is a woman. We as a society need to unlearn many of our ingrained assumptions regarding who commits, and who can be a victim of, sexual assault and rape,” the DA stated. “I am grateful for the vigilance of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the excellent work by the Boston Police Department’s Crimes Against Children unit and the FBI’s Human Trafficking-Child Exploitation Task Force.”
DA Rollins urged parents and guardians whose minor dependent(s) have been in contact with Stephanie Lak and think they could potentially be one of Lak’s victims, to please email Lakinvestigation@fbi.gov and provide your name and best contact information to have a member of the investigative team contact you.
All identities of victims will be kept confidential. Identified victims and their families may be eligible for certain services and rights under state and/or federal law.
In March 2021, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) contacted Boston Police Department’s Crimes Against Children unit with information that eight separate images of child sexual abuse were being trafficked over an IP address in Roxbury. NCMEC was acting after receiving a CyberTip from MediaLab/Kik that a user had up-loaded and shared files believed to be child sexual abuse material.
On April 15, 2021, BPD and the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force executed a search warrant at Lak’s residence and seized a laptop and three smart phones. On April 27, 2021, Lak was interviewed by members of the investigative team and admitted receiving and sending about 100 files of child sexual abuse material, and to engaging in conversation with other social media users in which the abuse of children was discussed.
Lak was represented in court by attorney Cory McAlister. She will return to court on May 25, 2021.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 25,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.