PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. (CNN) – A Washington woman was arrested after allegedly posing as a newborn photographer and drugging a woman to try to steal her baby.

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. (WSAV/CNN) — Investigators say 38-year-old Juliette Parker posed as a photographer offering to take free photos of newborn baby girls. When she drugged a mother and tried to steal her baby, they say she was planning to raise it as her own.

“She wanted a girl, she wanted them five weeks and younger so she could raise it herself, take it out of state and pretend it was a newborn of her own,” Detective Ed Troyer of Pierce County Sheriff said.

One mother, Amanda Appling, says she responded to a Facebook post made by Parker in December inquiring about the free photographs.

“She informed me she wasn’t looking for a boy at the time, but that she would save his picture and let me know later on if she was looking for a boy to do photos with, so I just let it go,” Appling says.

Appling says now she feels lucky her baby is a boy and says she plans to be extra cautious when communicating with strangers online.

“A little bit different situation, and that definitely could have been me,” Appling said. “It puts me on edge a little bit, makes me want to protect my children.”

Parker reportedly ran for mayor of Colorado Springs in March 2019. Investigators say they are looking into her background and learning who all she may have been in contact with.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department says Parker is currently in custody and faces multiple felony charges, including Assault and Attempted Kidnapping.

MORE HEADLINES: