LEXINGTON — A grand jury in North Carolina has indicted three people after police say a mother sold her 2-year-old child to a couple for a car.
The Dispatch of Lexington reports the Thomasville Police Department says detectives began an investigation in July after a hospital report of a 2-year-old child with bruises.
Investigators said 47-year-old Tina Marie Chavis told hospital workers that she was the child’s mother. Chavis then claimed to have adopted the child, but couldn’t produce documentation. Investigators later learned that 45-year-old Alice Leann Todd gave the child to Chavis and 53-year-old Vicenio Mendoza in exchange for a car last year.
All three are now charged with unlawful sale, surrender or purchase of a minor and jailed under a $50,000 bond apiece. It’s not known if they have attorneys.
