US investigates if foster mother traded teen girl for monkey
The Missouri woman, a foster or adoptive parent to more than 100 children, was charged with child abuse and endangerment
A foster mother in the US state of Missouri has been charged with child abuse and endangerment as authorities investigate whether she traded an adopted daughter to someone in Texas for a monkey and mistreated other children in her care.
The 70-year-old woman from Winfield has been jailed on US$250,000 bond since her arrest over the weekend, with her next court appearance set for April 15. No lawyer is listed for the woman in online court records. The 1,500-person town Winfield is about 72km (45 miles) northwest of downtown St. Louis.
Prosecutors wrote in asking for a cash-only bond that the girl’s mother was a foster or adoptive parent to more than 100 children. The filing said they had received information that some of those children also had suffered similar physical and emotional abuse.
Associated Press is not identifying the woman in an effort not to identity her child.
The girl at the centre of the case is in her teens. She told authorities she was beaten with wooden trim, shoes and a paddle, a detective with the Lincoln county sheriff’s office wrote in the probable cause statement. The girl said she tried to tell people what was happening but no one believed her.
In February, a deputy who was working as a school resource officer in Missouri was contacted about the girl missing classes, the probable cause statement said. While investigating, the deputy was told of a rumour that the girl was traded for an exotic animal to someone in Texas.
The deputy asked authorities in Texas to check on the girl, and she was returned to Missouri, where child welfare officials had got a tip several months earlier that the girl was being abused.