St. Paul woman says she unknowingly hired pornographer to babysit

Andrea Bang said she was desperate to find a babysitter.

"We didn't have any family members that were able to help us out at the time," Bang, of St. Paul, said.

It was the fall of 2007, and Bang was heading back to work after maternity leave. She needed someone to watch her daughter, Hannah, who was six at the time, and her son, Nathanial, who was two months old.

She decided to try Craigslist.

"I was really, really leery of it, but I didn't have anywhere else to turn at that point," Bang said.

She logged on and connected with Aaron Lemon, a young man from Little Canada.

She said she interviewed him at length and watched him care for her children twice in her home before hiring him.

"I really never saw any red flags at all," Bang said.

Bang had Lemon babysit four times before she changed her work schedule and no longer needed him.

She was shocked this week to hear Lemon's name in the news.

On Wednesday, Lemon pleaded guilty to making a pornographic video of a two-year-old girl for whom he was babysitting. It was a job he found on Craigslist.

It happened about a month before Bang hired Lemon to watch her kids.

"I just feel horribly sick that I put my kids in a position that they could have been harmed," Bang said.

Lemon's attorney declined to comment on the case. Lemon faces up to 30 years in prison.

Bang said Hannah, her daughter, doesn't remember anything bad happening when Lemon babysat, but she wants police to check to see if Lemon has any inappropriate videos or photos or her children.

And Bang wants other parents to avoid making the same mistake she did.

"Don't be desperate," Bang said. "Let's find another wat to do this because it's not worth your child's livelihood."

By Julianna Olsen, KARE 11 News

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