(RepublicanNews.org) – A top presenter for the BBC has been suspended as of July 9th following allegations they paid a child about $44 thousand to send them explicit images. The broadcaster has not yet identified the employee put on leave but has confirmed it was a man and that an investigation is ongoing.
Their suspension was announced on the same day The Sun published an interview with the child’s mother. In the piece, she alleged that she found a picture on her child’s phone of the presenter sitting on their couch in underwear. They were reportedly waiting for the child to perform for them.
Upon seeing the image the mother said she immediately recognized the individual. After questioning her child she said they admitted to having “shown things” to them before in exchange for payment and that the image was from a video call between the two. The minor said their relationship began when they were 17 years old.
The mother says she then filed a complaint with the BBC on May 19 in an effort to get the presenter to stop contacting her child. She clarified that an investigation was not her goal and that she only wanted communication from the personality to cease.
In June, the now 20-year-old told her mother the star had sent them the U.S. equivalent of about $1,300 in a PayPal transaction. The payment confirmed to the mother that the BBC had never followed up on her initial complaint. The mother further alleged that after contacting the BBC, the security staff she spoke with provided her with a contact number that didn’t exist.
According to the parent, the payments her child received were used to fund their cocaine addiction.
In a statement, the BBC acknowledged they first became aware of an issue with the presenter in question in May. Newer allegations of a “different nature” prompted them to suspend them and initiate an investigation.
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