A 19-year-old woman being held at the Carroll County Detention Center was charged yesterday with trying to sell her 2-year-old son for $250 so she could get out of jail to await trial on a drug charge, police said.
Judith Ann Garland of Baltimore was charged after a two-month investigation that began when the Harford County woman to whom the child was offered for sale called authorities, said Maryland State Police Sgt. James DeWees. The woman is a cousin of the boy's father, who also is in jail, and has temporary custody of the child, said DeWees, a member of the Carroll County Child Abuse and Sexual Assault unit.
"The complainant knew it was illegal from the first conversation and called the police," DeWees said. She worked with police, and charges were filed after several contacts culminated in a written and mailed makeshift contract "to solidify the deal [and] to relinquish ... parental rights for $250," he said.
DeWees said it was fortunate that the Harford County woman did not ignore the alleged solicitation.
"If this person didn't want to purchase the child, who would she have gone to next?" DeWees said.
Garland is charged with selling, bartering or trading a child, or offering to do so, a misdemeanor that is punishable by up to five years' imprisonment and a $10,000 fine, he said.
Child protective service workers have been notified, although the child was not in danger, he said.
Garland has been held in lieu of $5,000 bail at the Carroll County Detention Center since Oct. 3 to await trial on crack cocaine possession charges, according to District Court files. Court records show that her mother wrote three times to judges saying her daughter is a drug addict who needs to be put into a treatment program and needs medication for a bipolar condition.
Garland has a Jan. 15 trial date on the original charges of that landed her in jail: possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of paraphernalia.
A police commander said the allegations in the case are unusual. Many child-selling cases involve illegal adoptions, said state police Lt. Terry L. Katz, Westminster barracks commander.
"Even talking to veteran police officers, nobody ever can remember someone in jail trying to sell their child for bond money," said Katz, a 32-year veteran.