Thread: Mom arrested after selling baby, Pueblo police say

http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=19605&t ... ticle.html

Mom arrested after selling baby, Pueblo police say
By ANSLEE WILLETT THE GAZETTE
February 27, 2007 - 7:35PM


A mother who left Mexico to make money to send home to her children has been arrested for allegedly selling her third child, a 5-month-old boy, for $1,500 in Pueblo, according to court documents.

Nicole Uribe-Lopez, 23, was jailed Monday on an immigration hold at the Pueblo County Detention Center and arrested Tuesday on suspicion of felony trafficking in children, Pueblo police said.

She is suspected of selling her baby Feb. 21 to Jose and Irene Lerma, 47 an
d 27, respectively, police said. They were jailed Tuesday on $50,000 bond each.
“This is an unusual case,” Pueblo police Sgt. Brett Wilson said.

Selling babies is illegal in America, and it’s unknown how many are sold each year, according to adoption.com.

Lopez’s baby, which police said was born at St. Mary Corwin Hospital in Pueblo, has been placed in foster care. Court documents didn’t identify his father.

Lopez couldn’t afford another child, and hoped that her son, Jason Robert, would have a better life with other parents, according to an arrest affidavit that wasn’t released but was reviewed by a Pueblo Chieftain reporter and shared with The Gazette.

Lopez reportedly paid $500 to be smuggled into America, where she hoped to earn money to send home to two of her children, who live with her grandmother, the affidavit states. She’d worked as a waitress in New York and Grand Junction and had been out of work for about a year, the affidavit states. It didn’t say how long she’s lived in Pueblo.

The asking price for the baby was initially $10,000. It fell to $5,000 before Lopez and the Lermas agreed on $1,500 — $500 of which was for a down payment on a 2000 Dodge Intrepid that cost $4,800, the affidavit states.

The rest of the money was to go toward getting a Pueblo apartment for Lopez because she said she wanted to see her son grow up, the affidavit states.

The couple, who Lopez met through friends, went to an attorney about adopting the boy, but Jose Lerma thought adoption paperwork would take too long, the affidavit states.

Lopez and her boyfriend moved in with the couple about a week ago, after they were kicked out of the boyfriend’s sister’s home, the affidavit states.

Lopez’s boyfriend was being treated, reportedly for a drug overdose, at St. Mary Corwin Hospital on Monday morning, when his family told either hospital officials or police about alleged sale of the baby, the affidavit states.

Another example of mexican family values.