Carlsbad police believe a 23-year-old woman who — along with her boyfriend — allegedly molested children she was baby sitting, possibly victimized other kids outside the San Diego area, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, authorities said Thursday.
Brittney Lyon was arrested last July on suspicion of eight counts lewd and lascivious acts on children, according to the Carlsbad Police Department.
On Thursday, police said they were looking for other potential victims in the case, and were requesting the public’s help to locate families who hired Lyon to baby sit.
Lyon advertised her services on multiple websites, including care.com, sitter.com and sittercity.com, according to investigators.
It is possible she used an alias of Lauren Allen, and possibly Allen’s or other people’s photographs to advertise her services online, according to Carlsbad police Capt. Mickey Williams.
Earlier, police had posted three photos they believe Lyon used in her ads, then removed them “for clarity.” The agency also apologized directly to Allen and for any confusion.
“In a media release today we listed Lauren’s name and photo as the alias used by the suspect, Brittney Lyon. We want to state unequivocally that Lauren Allen herself is in no way a suspect in this case,” police said in an updated Facebook post.
The suspect, Lyon, is accused of repeatedly taking two young girls she was sitting to the home of her boyfriend, 23-year-old Samuel Cabrera Jr., and filming while he allegedly sexually molested them, according to police and prosecutors.
Lyon “may have impersonated other people while committing her offenses,” Williams said.
During the investigation, police found “a ton of recorded material” connected to the case, including computers, hard drives and GoPro cameras, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported at the time.
“So much of it, it will take a while to sift through it,” Carlsbad police Lt. Marc Reno said.
In addition to taking the victims to her boyfriend’s place and videotaping the alleged abuse, Lyon also helped undress the young victims in some instances, San Diego County Prosecutors Jodi Breton said following the couple’s arrest.
“She tricked the parents and the children into thinking they were going to be doing something fun” before betraying them, Breton told the Union-Tribune.
As of Thursday, Lyon and Cabrera remained behind bars and are each being held on $2.6 million bail, inmate records showed.
Anyone who hired, or knows someone who used, the suspect as a baby sitter is urged to call Carlsbad police Detective Steve Stallman at 760-931-2293.