$175 and a cockatoo
Submitted by Niels on Mon, 2009-03-02 16:13.
Last year I wrote a post about a late 19th century situation where a woman sold a child for 25 cents and a canary. It seems the value of a bird is still considered above that of a child. According to a CNN report a Louisiana woman recently tried to sell two children to obtain a cockatoo. Like the case more than hundred years ago, it would be funny if it weren't so sad:
from: cnn.com
Woman answers ad for bird by offering kids as payment
(CNN) -- Trading two children for a bird landed three people in jail in Louisiana, authorities say.
The biological mother, who was not involved in the alleged trade, is to be interviewed by authorities Friday. Investigators seek further details about a case that they say unfolded this way:
Paul and Brandy Romero advertised that they were selling their pet cockatoo for $1,500.
A woman named Donna Greenwell responded and said she wanted to buy the bird. Greenwell then told the Romeros that she was taking care of three children whose biological parents were going through a separation.
Greenwell proposed selling two of the couple's children to the Romeros for $2,000, saying that her job as a truck driver made it hard to take care of the children, said Capt. Keith Dupre of the Evangeline Parrish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana.
The parties allegedly negotiated a trade involving the two kids, the bird and $175.
An anonymous tipster contacted authorities after the children began living with the Romeros.
As a result, Greenwell and the Romeros were arrested February 21 and charged with aggravated kidnapping, Dupre said.
The children were well taken care of when they were with the Romeros, who badly wanted children, according to Dupre.
Greenwell said she needed the cash for a lawyer to handle adoption paperwork, authorities said.
She had placed the third child with another Louisiana couple, Dupre said, but he didn't know whether bartering was involved.
The two children were ages 4 and 5, according to CNN affiliate WGNO.
Police did not identify the biological parents, and no other information was available. The children have been placed in foster care
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A poor pun (for sick-pups like me)
Does this mean a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?
I always go back to
exactly what is so bad about this..... I mean private adoption agencies get $30,000 to $50,000 to do the same thing... private foster care agencies make millions off of state and federal government to care for children (very for profit buisness) and some women are having adoptive parents pay their housing, up keep, cars, cell phones, food, education, cost of care of other children, etc... for 10 month prior to birth and 6 month after...
I do think it is all bad and really crappy...
Suspect in child-bird trade has kidnapping conviction
By Abbey Brown
March 5, 2009 / thetowntalk.com
The Rapides Parish woman who still is sitting in jail in connection with the alleged trade of two children for an expensive bird was convicted more than 10 years ago for kidnapping one of her in-laws.
Donna Louise Greenwell, 51, who lives in Rapides Parish near Pitkin, has been charged with two counts of sale of minor children, Evangeline Parish officials said. She is accused of exchanging a 5-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, who weren't related to her, for a cockatoo and cash last month.
In 1997, Greenwell pleaded guilty to simple kidnapping in connection with the kidnapping and attack of a Dry Prong woman -- Pauline Mundy.
Greenwell was sentenced to three years imprisonment, although two of those years were suspended, according to Grant Parish Clerk's Office records. She reported to begin serving her sentence in July 1997.
Mundy was forcibly taken from her home, beaten and held against her will for more than three hours, according to both Mundy and Grant Parish Sheriff's Office records. Mundy said Greenwell's daughter and Mundy's son had a child together and that Greenwell threatened to "feed her to the alligators" if she didn't give Greenwell the infant daughter whom Mundy's son had custody of at the time.
News of the most recent incident involving Greenwell horrified Mundy.
"I knew back then what she was capable of," Mundy said Wednesday. "It is time for someone to do something about her to keep her off the streets and keep this from happening again. Children are in danger."
Mundy claimed that Greenwell not only tried to sell her a child in the past, but she also tried to sell an Arizona couple a child.
"She's done this before and will do it again if she isn't stopped," Mundy said.
The parents of the two children who were exchanged for the bird have been located and have spoken with detectives, authorities said. Each has expressed in interest in getting custody of the children, although the children are still in the state's custody. No charges have been pressed against the parents.
"She's done this before and will do it again if she isn't stopped," Mundy said.
The parents of the two children who were exchanged for the bird have been located and have spoken with detectives, authorities said. Each has expressed in interest in getting custody of the children, although the children are still in the state's custody. No charges have been pressed against the parents.
Greenwell claims the mother left the children with her as she was "having a hard time" but never returned. She'd had the children for about a year, and the boy and girl were shuffled from family to family while Greenwell was driving a semi-tractor-trailer cross-country, officials said.
The cockatoo, which an Evangeline Parish couple had advertised for sale for $1,500 on a flier hanging in a feed store, is still with Greenwell's family. Police officials don't expect to confiscate it.
That Evangeline Parish couple -- Brandy Lynn Romero, 27, and Paul J. Romero, 46 -- told detectives that when Greenwell discovered they weren't able to have children, she tried to sell the children to them for $2,000. When they said they couldn't afford it, she offered the "even trade" of the children for the bird, Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Detective Keith Dupre said.
The couple said the exchange happened Feb. 18, and the next day Greenwell told them she needed $175 to pay an attorney for adoption papers, officials said.
The Romeros, Dupre said, had good intentions but used bad judgment and didn't realize their actions were illegal. The couple had been trying to have children for many years and were unable to, and could not afford adoption.
Each of the Romeros now faces two counts of sale of minor children. Both have been released from jail on bond. All three had been charged with kidnapping, but those charges were modified when it became apparent that the children had not been taken forcibly.
Dupre said he doesn't expect further charges against Greenwell out of his parish, although other area agencies continue to seek tips on possible child transactions. She remains in the Evangeline Parish Jail, with bond set at $100,000.
The charge of sale of a minor child carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a $50,000 fine.
"The charge of sale of a
"The charge of sale of a minor child carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a $50,000 fine."
If thats true then why are the people running these adoption rackets free and living large?
No fines anywhere to be seen.... just people suing the government just promotions with in the industry and all attached to it. And of course those cute little child trafficking websites with children's faces posted. Above it reads:
"This Week's Child"
I guess the laws only apply to some of us. Funny how that works.
The laws of adoption
Indeed, thanks to "the language of adoption", what one person does illegally on the street is often seen as being something completely different when it's done behind closed doors with not so law-abiding doctors/midwives, lawyers and adoption workers.
It's interesting to read just how strict the punishment can be for a person who sells a minor. Compare the above punishment to what the Banks and Galindo received. [Judge has mercy on the Banks and Galindo was sentenced 18 months for child trafficking and money laundering.]
Why some are better protected than others is beyond me... it's a wicked logic I could never follow.
Woman pleads guilty to selling children for bird and $175
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 24, 2010
A woman has pleaded guilty to selling two children for a cockatoo and $175 in what her attorney called an attempt to do a good thing that went wrong.
"It was a really clumsy attempt at an adoption proceeding," said Steve Sikich, attorney for Donna Louise Greenwell of Pitkin. "She was trying to help the children and get them situated."
Greenwell, 53, was sentenced Monday to 15 months of hard labour on each of two criminal counts: sale of a minor. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The case centred on a five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl in Greenwell's custody.
Investigators said she called Paul J. Romero, 46, and Brandy Lynn Romero, 27, of Evangeline Parish early last year after seeing a flyer they posted offering a cockatoo for sale, and offered to deliver the children for about $2,000. When the Romeros said they could not afford that, a deal was stuck for the bird, valued at $1,500, plus cash.
Greenwell had custody of the children for more than a year before meeting the Romeros, Sikich said. Her lawyers have maintained she was just trying to find a better home for them.
"They were undernourished and not well taken care of," Sikich said. "It's my understanding that the mother had requested that she take care of the kids."
Neither the children's mother or father could be located, Sikich said.
The $175 was to cover the cost of an attorney to transfer custody of the children to the Romeros, Sikich said. The cockatoo was a gift to Greenwell's granddaughter, he said.
The Romeros pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sale of a minor child, the district attorney said in an earlier statement. Their five-year prison sentences were suspended in exchange for their testimony against Greenwell, the statement said.
Famous last words
Aren't they all.