An incarcerated former Baltimore daycare worker is facing child sexual exploitation and child pornography charges from federal prosecutors.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said Thursday that Simone Unadrea Avery, 23, produced “two image files depicting a prepubescent minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct” on April 23, 2024, while working as a substitute teacher at a daycare center.
Federal prosecutors also said that Avery had an iPhone and a hard drive in her possession that each contained “visual depictions” of sexually explicit acts involving a prepubescent minor.
The victim was a girl, according to the indictment on one count of sexually exploiting a child and two counts of possessing child sexual abuse material filed against Avery in federal court Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors did not directly name the facility involved: Homewood Early Learning Center, which is operated by Downtown Baltimore Child Care and located on the grounds of Johns Hopkins University.
The daycare “enrolls children from 10 weeks through preschool,” according to its website.
Avery worked as a substitute teacher there from June 29, 2023 to May 2, 2024, prior to her arrest on state charges in July 2024, the daycare said in March after learning about a FBI and Baltimore Police Department investigation into Avery.
Officials at the daycare center said that Avery “passed federal and state background checks before and during her employment” and that the law enforcement agencies notified the families of victims prior to the start of the investigation.
Daycare officials also said the new investigation was “terrible and distressing news” and that “the safety and well-being of the children entrusted to our care is always our highest priority.”
Johns Hopkins University Police Chief Branville Bard Jr., who is also the school’s vice president for public safety, told WMAR-TV in March that the case “is a terrible violation of trust and an affront to the safety of our most vulnerable — the children of our faculty, staff, students, and neighbors” and that the school is cooperating with authorities.
If Avery is convicted on the federal charges, she would face between 15 and 30 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child, and would face between 10 and 20 years for possession child sexual abuse material.
Avery was charged by Maryland prosecutors in May 2025 and convicted in Baltimore City Circuit Court in September on two counts of promoting or distributing child pornography, according to Maryland court records.
The state charges against Avery came about after the Kik instant messenger service notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2024 that a Baltimore area user was sharing child sexual abuse material on the platform, according to court documents cited by the Baltimore Banner.
The center then notified the Baltimore Police Department, which traced the Kik user to a Baltimore residence.
Following a police search, Avery confessed to detectives that she possessed around 6,000 pieces of child sexual abuse material and that she was sharing it with others on Kik, police said according to the Baltimore Banner.
After she was convicted, a Maryland judge sentenced Avery to 10 years in prison, with all but two years suspended followed by three years of probation, according to Maryland court records. She will also have to register with the state as a sex offender.
Avery is serving her state prison sentence at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women in Jessup, according to Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services records.
