Pair Pinched for Child Sex Abuse

(Washington County, New York) Following extradition, a 49-year-old Worcester, MA, woman, Linda St. Germain, was placed in custody at the Washington County Jail for alleged child sex abuse in August 2008.

St. Germain faces charges of first-degree sexual abuse, use of a child in a sexual performance and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to state police investigators, Linda St. Germain engaged in an online chat last September with an Easton, NY, man, Ralph Gillis, in which Gillis sexually abused a child and broadcast it to St. Germain via webcam.

St. Germain allegedly encouraged Gillis while he committed the abuse and enaged in sexually explicit chats with him, said police.

Sixty-eight-year-old Gillis faces charges of sexual abuse in the first degree and use of a child in a sexual performance. The abuse by Gillis and the on-line webcam participation of St. Germain involved the fondling of a girl less than five years old.

State Police and the FBI continue to investigate.