DETROIT, April 2 (UPI) -- Federal officials in Detroit say they are seeking childcare assistance from a man imprisoned for getting women to molest their children for him.
Steven Demink, 41, was sentenced to life in prison for convincing mothers to violate their children and videotape or photograph the sex acts for him to watch.
Caregivers said they aren't holding hope of seeing financial assistance, in part because Demink is in prison and has few, if any, assets, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.
Records indicate prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen to order Demink to pay one caregiver $66,000 to help defray costs. Records also indicate prosecutors asked that Demink pay more than $100,000 to another caregiver.
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Rosen hasn't ruled on either request.
Other caregivers haven't submitted bills, the Free Press said.
Demink of Redford Township, Mich., befriended women on Web sites for single parents. Using the name Dalton St. Clair, he portrayed himself as a father of a 14-year-old daughter and talked the women into assaulting their minor children. The abuse was photographed or streamed online.
An Indiana woman who has been raising her sister's two children for the past 17 months told the Free Press any relief would help. When authorities removed the children from their mother's home, the sister said foster care wasn't considered.
"There was never a choice. If I let those kids go to strangers, I would never forgive myself," the woman said. "Someone in my family has to show them some normalcy."
Records indicate seven mothers sexually assaulted 12 children at Demink's behest. The mothers received prison terms ranging from 7 years to 30 years. Victims were reported in Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana and Illinois.
