"I am not a monster": Disturbing reason police have seized phone of woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann
Polish woman Julia Faustyna who went viral over claims she could be Madeleine McCann has had her phone seized by US police over claims it contains explicit images of children.
The phone was given to authorities by a former spokesperson for Faustyna and psychic private investigator Fia Johansson.
The phone was reportedly left with Johansson when she brought Faustyna, 21, to the US for DNA and family ancestry test results over her claiming to be the missing toddler.
The results confirmed that Faustyna was “absolutely, 100 per cent from Poland".
Johansson handed the phone over to police during a search and seizure as part of an investigation, but the reason behind what prompted the pursuit remains unknown, according to the New York Post.
Wroclaw police in Poland were contacted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and were informed that they were in possession of a phone thought to belong to Faustyna, according to a RadarOnline.com report.
“Our investigation is taking a deep look into it and we’re going to let them do their investigative duties and then from that point let the judicial system take over – if it needs to,” department spokesman Sergeant Mike Woodroof said.
Johansson reportedly added, “I’m told an investigator from the Sheriff’s Department is personally taking the device to Poland to make sure it doesn’t get lost or misplaced.”
She also shared an image of a denied release of case information form from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on social media, including a statement regarding the investigation.
“There will be no comment or discussion at this time or moving forward concerning the active ongoing investigation with Orange County Sheriff’s Department and special public affairs division due to protocol and the sensitivity and nature of the intelligence that has been gathered and rendered,” she said.
“It’s an active investigation and DA will not comment out of concern for the safety of the victims.”
After Faustyna received her DNA test results and appeared on Dr Phil, Johannson revealed she travelled back to Poland to live with her father.
The DNA results prompted Madeleine McCann’s parents to break their silence after months of emotional turmoil.
Faustyna now denies all the allegations against her to reporters.
“I didn’t have child pornography on my phone. I am not a paedo and I never tried to encourage any teenagers to do anything illegal and bad and disgusting,” she told The Sun.
“Just think carefully, if someone is a paedo, I believe this person would never go by himself to a police station or this person would never talk about what I was talking in public to the whole world because it would be very dangerous for this person.
“It is not logical ... I am saying the truth and I will make my name clean because I am not a monster.”
She told The Sun she had purchased the phone from an unknown person, saying that if there were explicit images on her phone they were put there by someone else.
Image credit: Instagram