HAMMOND | Two Gary residents were indicted Wednesday in Hammond federal court on charges surrounding the sale and purchase of a child to create pornography.
Christopher M. Bour, 39, faces charges of buying a child to produce child pornography, producing child pornography and possessing child pornography featuring a minor younger than 12, according to an indictment filed Wednesday in federal court.
Natisha Hillard, 24, is charged with selling her daughter for the production of child pornography and permitting the child to participate in its production, according to the indictment.
An unnamed woman had reported to the FBI in February that Bour had sent her text messages giving her concern a child would be sexually exploited, according to a complaint filed on Bour in February.
An FBI agent then received the woman's permission to assume her identity to continue the text message conversation, where Bour reportedly messaged that he wanted her to “video me playing with that little one” and then described sexual acts he would conduct on the child, the complaint states.
When the FBI agent, posing as the woman through texts, asked if Bour trusted the child's mother, Bour answered he had used the child for sexual purposes several times before and that the mother wouldn't be there, the complaint states. He then said the child was 1 1/2 years old.
Bour asked the woman, whom he believed he was text-messaging, if she wanted to participate in the sexual acts, according to the complaint.
The woman, who owns a massage business, also told the FBI that when she did a house call at Bour's home, she saw three child pornography movies play on a laptop.
FBI agents conducted a search warrant at Bour's home the day after the text messages were sent and he told an officer he had become interested in child pornography two years ago and would download child pornography, according to the complaint.
A complaint filed on Hillard in February remained sealed in federal court late Wednesday.
The indictment charges Hillard of selling and transferring the custody and control of her child knowing the child “would be portrayed in a visual depiction assisting another person to engage in sexually explicit conduct.”
Bour and Hillard have been ordered held without bond pending trial or further court proceedings, according to federal court records.
Arraignments for Bour and Hillard are set for Monday before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich.
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