The ads were mostly anonymous Craigslist posts offering up to $15,000 for an Indian baby girl, less than 8 weeks old, to star in a Hindi film.
Popping up beginning Dec. 19, the ads said to contact “thecastinghouse11@yahoo.com.” Prospects were told to send a headshot.
Almost two weeks later, Michelle Marie Gopaul is facing her first court appearance after being charged with the abduction of a newborn girl.
Gopaul, a 24-year-old from New York, was arrested around 3 a.m. Friday in the Midland Ave. and Eglinton Ave. E. area, with a 1-month-old baby who went missing four hours earlier from an Etobicoke production studio, police say.
The baby was unharmed.
Gopaul is alleged to have been posing as a talent agent named Dianne Miller who set up a casting call at A La Carte Videos on Birmingham St. near Islington Ave.
Early Thursday morning, a young woman called Rhythmic Rainbow Studio, an Etobicoke yoga studio, and asked to rent it for auditions.
But the studio was closed, and the person who answered its phone, Barbara Ades, declined to rent it out. The woman called back. Ades' caller ID read Dianne Miller.
Reluctantly, Ades says, she met with the woman and showed her the studio. The young woman, Ades recalled, was wearing a straw hat that covered most of her face. The young woman introduced herself as Dianne and asked Ades to leave her alone during the auditions.
Ades refused, and she said the woman offered her more money. Ades then asked her to leave.
“She called me at least seven times after that,” Ades said.
The woman calling herself Dianne ended up knocking on the door of A La Carte Video, a production studio next door to the yoga studio, said Frank Berti, an electrician who was working inside while the studio was closed for the holidays.
Berti got “Dianne” to call Nathalie Malette, the owner of the production studio, who was away.
Malette reluctantly agreed to let her use the space, but only for 15 minutes. But “Dianne” convinced the electrician to stay with her at the studio for the rest of the day, Berti said. “I didn't think there was anything going on,” he said.
Several couples turned up at the door with infants. “Dianne” met with them in an office in the back. A group of young men arrived later in the day, and she argued with them, trying to get them to leave, Berti said.
Another man came in around 10 p.m. with a baby, Berti said, as he sat in another room, still waiting to close up shop. The man's wife was in the car.
Minutes later, the man came running out, telling Berti that “Dianne” had taken his baby. The man said she had walked out the front door, climbed into a cab with the newborn and fled, Berti recounted.
Police said hours later they located the baby with a woman near Eglinton and Midland. Police later announced charges against Gopaul.
A woman named Michelle Gopaul, aged 24, is listed on MySpace and a modelling website. Both Berti and Ades said the pictures resemble the woman they met with.
An ad posted on Craigslist looking for babies for a Huggies commercial is listed under “thecastinghouse11@yahoo.com.” The name Dianne Miller, talent agent, is listed
Popping up beginning Dec. 19, the ads said to contact “thecastinghouse11@yahoo.com.” Prospects were told to send a headshot.
Almost two weeks later, Michelle Marie Gopaul is facing her first court appearance after being charged with the abduction of a newborn girl.
Gopaul, a 24-year-old from New York, was arrested around 3 a.m. Friday in the Midland Ave. and Eglinton Ave. E. area, with a 1-month-old baby who went missing four hours earlier from an Etobicoke production studio, police say.
The baby was unharmed.
Gopaul is alleged to have been posing as a talent agent named Dianne Miller who set up a casting call at A La Carte Videos on Birmingham St. near Islington Ave.
Early Thursday morning, a young woman called Rhythmic Rainbow Studio, an Etobicoke yoga studio, and asked to rent it for auditions.
But the studio was closed, and the person who answered its phone, Barbara Ades, declined to rent it out. The woman called back. Ades' caller ID read Dianne Miller.
Reluctantly, Ades says, she met with the woman and showed her the studio. The young woman, Ades recalled, was wearing a straw hat that covered most of her face. The young woman introduced herself as Dianne and asked Ades to leave her alone during the auditions.
Ades refused, and she said the woman offered her more money. Ades then asked her to leave.
“She called me at least seven times after that,” Ades said.
The woman calling herself Dianne ended up knocking on the door of A La Carte Video, a production studio next door to the yoga studio, said Frank Berti, an electrician who was working inside while the studio was closed for the holidays.
Berti got “Dianne” to call Nathalie Malette, the owner of the production studio, who was away.
Malette reluctantly agreed to let her use the space, but only for 15 minutes. But “Dianne” convinced the electrician to stay with her at the studio for the rest of the day, Berti said. “I didn't think there was anything going on,” he said.
Several couples turned up at the door with infants. “Dianne” met with them in an office in the back. A group of young men arrived later in the day, and she argued with them, trying to get them to leave, Berti said.
Another man came in around 10 p.m. with a baby, Berti said, as he sat in another room, still waiting to close up shop. The man's wife was in the car.
Minutes later, the man came running out, telling Berti that “Dianne” had taken his baby. The man said she had walked out the front door, climbed into a cab with the newborn and fled, Berti recounted.
Police said hours later they located the baby with a woman near Eglinton and Midland. Police later announced charges against Gopaul.
A woman named Michelle Gopaul, aged 24, is listed on MySpace and a modelling website. Both Berti and Ades said the pictures resemble the woman they met with.
An ad posted on Craigslist looking for babies for a Huggies commercial is listed under “thecastinghouse11@yahoo.com.” The name Dianne Miller, talent agent, is listed
