Couple try to sell baby girl via Facebook

on september 18, 2013 at 9:20 pm in news
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – A couple who tried to
sell their two-year-old daughter via Facebook
has been arrested in the northeastern Brazilian
city of Recife, police said Wednesday.
A police spokesman in Recife told AFP that the
toddler’s biological parents were arrested and
jailed late Tuesday after failing to post bail set
at $6,666 each.
The girl was turned over to the city’s child
protective services.
“The 23-year-old mother said she needed
money to travel to Europe for prostitution. The
40-year-old father did not say anything,” the
spokesman added.
A social worker from Campina Grande in
Paraiba state reported the couple to
authorities after reaching a monetary
agreement for the transaction on Facebook.
“I am relieved to have changed the future of
this child,” said the social worker, who initially
thought the case was a joke.
She had agreed to meet the couple outside a
metro station in suburban Recife and to turn
over $666 in cash plus a portable computer in
exchange for the girl.
Under the deal, she was due to pay an
additional $890 in 10 installments.
The couple was arrested during the
transaction.
“The husband did not take part in the online
negotiations but was present during the
delivery and held the child in his arms,”
Geraldo da Costa, the police officer in charge
of the case, told the G1 news portal.