Father of 16-Year-Old Arrested for Allegedly Helping Her Make Money Sharing Nude Photos

A police car in a file photo. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A father was arrested on suspicion of helping his 16-year-old daughter sell nude photographs online, making about $40,000 in profit, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office reported Nov. 18.

Scott Van Davis, 46, of El Dorado County, was charged with several felony counts after allegedly helping his daughter post the photos, according to the sheriff’s department.

In August, the sheriff’s high-tech crime unit began investigating a 16-year-old female who was allegedly selling nude photographs online. The girl had a well-known online presence on a variety of social media platforms, authorities said.

Detectives discovered that the girl was selling illegal content online, and grossed about $40,000 dollars from the postings, the sheriff’s office reported. The girl is not facing charges, a sheriff’s office spokesman told the Mountain Democrat, a local newspaper in El Dorado County.

“Upon further investigation, Detectives also discovered that the female’s father, Scott Davis, was aware of the online activity and was complicit in the profit,” the sheriff’s office posted on its Facebook page Nov. 28.

On Nov. 15, detectives served a search warrant at Mr. Davis’s home, and he was arrested on seven felony counts—one count of sex trafficking of a minor, two counts of aggravated child abuse, one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, one count of pimping or assisting prostitution, one count of using a minor for commercial obscene purposes and intimidation, and one count related to a sex act of a minor, according to county’s inmate information.

Mr. Davis was arraigned Nov. 17 and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in El Dorado County Superior Court Dec. 4. His bail is set at $4 million.