Salisbury Woman Sentenced to 17 Years for Sexual Exploitation of Infant

A Massachusetts woman who pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting an infant in her care has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

The office of U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said Monday that 26-year-old Desiree Daigle of Salisbury had received the sentence from U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, who also ordered five years of supervised release.

"There are no words to adequately capture how truly reprehensible this conduct is. Ms. Daigle violated the trust placed in her by a friend and sexually abused a defenseless infant in her care," Rollins said in a statement. "That she documented the abuse for the perverse gratification of herself and others is truly disgusting. Ms. Daigle is a danger to our communities and deserves every single day of this prison sentence."

On June 24, Daigle entered a guilty plea for a charge of child sexual exploitation. She was arrested in 2018 alongside Thomas Cross, an Amesbury man who was charged with possession, receipt and distribution of child pornography.

Cross was arrested again in June of 2020 for allegedly violating the conditions of his pretrial release by having a devise that could access the internet.

Prosecutors said Daigle had images of an infant, who had been in her care, taken in her home. She allegedly made plans for Cross to meet the child in person "so that they could sexually abuse the child together."

"The actions of Desiree Daigle were beyond heinous," Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston Division, said in a statement. "She violated the trust placed in her by her friends and sexually exploited a baby in her care. No child should ever be subjected to this, and no sentence can erase the harm inflicted upon this child and her family."