Mom Sells 5-Month-Old Baby In Pueblo, CO

**Update
--Jose-Juan Lerma, now believed to be an American citizen from Mexico, claims that transaction was intended to be similar to adoption--a legal transfer of custody, and also to help out the baby's mother





How much is a 5-month-old baby worth?

For three Mexican nationals in Pueblo, Colorado--about $10,000 (video):

Police say a mom sold her 5-month-old baby to get money for a down payment on a car.
. . .
Police say 23-year-old Nicole Uribe, a Mexican national, sold her baby boy to a couple on February 21.

Court documents show Uribe sold the baby for $10,000 cash. She then put a down payment on a Dodge Intrepid.

“Mom obviously wanted to get rid of the child for one reason or another and these other people were willing to take the child and then there was an exchange of monetary money." said Sgt. Brett A. Wilson with the Pueblo Police Department.

Police say Uribe sold the baby to 28-year-old Irene and 48-year-old Jose-Juan Lerma, who are also both Mexican nationals.

Uribe and the Lermas were arrested on charges of trafficking a child.

Uribe is also on an immigration hold because she is in the country illegally. She is being held on $50,000 bond in the Pueblo County Jail.

If she is convicted, she would serve her sentence in the United States and then be deported.
. . .
Child trafficking carries a prison sentence of up to 24 years and up to a $750,000 fine.

Not sure of the laws in Mexico, but north of the border there are laws against human trafficking. Thankfully, the baby boy appears to be okay. Born in Pueblo, he is an American citizen.

Of course, when you are in the country illegally, it is expected that the laws of the land don't apply, isn't it?