A social media clip and the distinctive tattoos it captured helped identify a New Jersey babysitter accused of sexually assaulting a 2-year-old child – allegations her attorney later dismissed as an “innocent interaction” between an adult and a curious toddler.
Police say social media footage recorded and shared in early May led investigators to Victoria Cranmer, 25, of Little Egg Harbor, who was arrested on July 8. They identified her through several details, including distinctive tattoos, her voice and the bathroom where the grossly inappropriate video was allegedly recorded.
According to reports, the 14-second Snapchat clip showed Cranmer sitting on a toilet with her genitals exposed while a 2-year-old child touched her as she laughed and spoke to the toddler.
‘Boobs, a lightning bolt and a mushroom’
The mother who alerted police wasn’t a stranger. According to court documents cited by People, Cranmer had been staying with the friend – identified in court as “Mrs. P” – who welcomed her into her home, trusted her to babysit her baby girl, and even gave her an iPhone as a birthday gift.
After asking Cranmer to leave, the mother requested the phone back and allegedly discovered the Snapchat video while looking through the device.
The concerned mom recognized Cranmer from several distinctive tattoos – “specifically” of “boobs, a lightning bolt and a mushroom,” according to the affidavit.
She also recognized Cranmer’s voice and the bathroom shown in the clip before saving the video, locking Cranmer out of the Snapchat account and contacting authorities.
Toddler in diapers
According to People, detectives with the Little Egg Harbor Police Department seized the cellphone and obtained a search warrant on May 28. Court records allege investigators later uncovered multiple Snapchat videos involving Cranmer and the young child.
Although authorities have publicly identified the alleged victim only as being younger than 13, the prosecutor told the court the child in the clip was the 2-year-old girl daughter of the woman she was living with at the time. Court documents also describe the child as still wearing diapers.
‘Blown out of proportion’
Cranmer’s attorney, Marissa Koerner, argued that the video had been misunderstood and called it an “innocent interaction” between a child and an adult, Asbury Park Press reports.
Koerner told the court: “Anyone who has spent time caring for young children understands that children often have little appreciation for personal space or privacy.”
She continued: “Young children routinely follow parents or caregivers into bathrooms, touch things, ask questions, are curious and fail to recognize ordinary social boundaries.”
Insisting what happened between Cranmer and the child was not a crime, the defense attorney said, “Children often engage in funny, spontaneous or strange behavior that adults record because the moment is memorable or humorous.”
“The video has been blown out of proportion,” Koerner added.
‘Bizarre’ and ‘troubling’
Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer saw the situation very differently after reviewing the video.
“The word to describe it is bizarre,” Palmer said in court, adding it was “troubling” to see “there wasn’t any attempt to stop the child from touching her in the pubic area.”
Cranmer faces charges of sexual assault on a child, endangering the welfare of a child, and manufacturing and possessing child sexual abuse material. She has not entered a plea, and the allegations remain accusations that prosecutors must prove in court.
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