Mum arrested for selling her baby for $2,000 to strangers near primary school

A MUM has been arrested for allegedly selling her baby for £1,500 ($2,000) to strangers near a primary school in Kentucky.

Maria Domingo-Perez, 31, was stopped by police after reports of her giving away her child began circulating at Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School.

WARREN COUNTY REGIONAL JAIL

Maria Domingo-Perez, 31, was arrested for allegedly selling her baby for £1,500 ($2,000) to strangers near a primary school in Kentucky[/caption]

Domingo-Perez initially gave officers “conflicting statements” but police said she later admitted to giving the baby to a man and a woman.

The couple, Catarina Jose Felipe, 37, and Jose Manuel Pascual, 45, told detectives they had paid $2,000 for the baby, police said.

Police did not ask the gender or age of the child.

‘CONFLICTING STATEMENTS’

All three people were arrested and charged with selling and purchasing a child for adoption on Tuesday, police and prison records show.
It was not immediately clear whether the suspects are represented by a lawyer yet.
Police said the baby and Domingo-Perez’s other four children are in protective custody.

A staff member at the school had been keeping an eye on the family after concerns were raised about the welfare of her five children, including the baby that was allegedly sold.

Domingo-Perez, Felipe and Pascual are all being held at the Warren County Regional Jail on $10,000 cash bond, online records show.

Earlier this year, a mum was sentenced to six years in prison after she sold her seven-year-old son for £1,900 and planned to sell her two daughters to pay off drug debts.

Esmeralda Garza pleaded guilty to three counts of selling or purchasing a child, as well as money laundering and conspiracy to sell or purchase a child.

The Texas Department of Public Safety found Garza’s son and daughters at a home in Corpus Christi while using a drug search warrant.

USA Today reported that a woman in the house told authorities that she had purchased the boy off Garza for US$2500 – the equivalent of around £2,000.

Garza told investigators that she and her partner had owed the woman in the house drug money, and so she sold her the child.

A official report stated that the woman then gave Garza $500 in cash to clear the debt between the pair – she was meant to receive an extra $700 once the custody paperwork was signed.

WARREN COUNTY REGIONAL JAIL

Catarina Jose Felipe, 37, told detectives she and her partner had paid $2,000 for the baby[/caption]

WARREN COUNTY REGIONAL JAIL

Jose Manuel Pascual, 45, has also been arrested[/caption]

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Reports of Domingo-Perez giving away her child circulated at Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School[/caption]