Pray for these kids

[Catty1]

I hope someday very soon they will know they are LOVED.


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100223/world/us_bird_children_swap
Louisiana woman gets 15 months for selling 2 children for a bird

Tue Feb 23, 9:17 AM

By The Associated Press


VILLE PLATTE, La. - A 52-year-old Louisiana woman has pleaded guilty to two counts of sale of a minor for trading two children to a couple in exchange for an exotic pet bird and $175.

Donna Greenwell received 15 months of hard labour on each count on Monday, which she will serve concurrently. Greenwell will begin serving her sentence March 25.

The couple, Paul James Romero and Brandy Romero, each pleaded guilty to the same charges in October.

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/topstories/2010/02/23/tp-bird-cp-6325098-6325173.jpg
Paul Romero, left, reportedly gave $175 and a pet cockatoo to Donna Greenwell, right, in exchange for a four-year-old girl and five-year-old boy in her care. Greenwell was sentenced to 30 months' hard labour Monday. Romero and his wife, Brandy, had pleaded guilty to two counts of sale of a minor in October. (Evangeline Parrish Sheriff's Office/Associated Press)




Greenwell was accused of selling the couple a four-year-old girl and five-year-old boy in return for the cash and a cockatoo.

Both children were in Greenwell's care after their biological parents had left them with her.

More details from CBC:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/02/23/us-bird-children-swap.html


The Romeros had advertised that they were selling their pet cockatoo for $1,500, and Greenwell reportedly responded and said she wanted to buy the bird.

Greenwell then told the Romeros she was taking care of three children whose parents were going through a separation and proposed including two of the children in the deal.

An anonymous tipster contacted authorities after the children began living with the Romeros.

The children were well taken care of when they were with the Romeros, who badly wanted children, said Capt. Keith Dupre of the Evangeline Parrish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana at the time of the arrest.

Greenwell will begin serving her sentence on March 25.

[lvpets2002]

:( OMG that is so Sad.. However they say the kids were in great care with the other couple.. Maybe this couple can keep the kids & love them..

[Catty1]

Helene, that would be good...except they paid some money and a bird for them. I hope they are not dealt with harshly, though.

Also - the biological parents are separating. They may be really good people who thought this lady was ok. I expect they are horrified and devastated.

I wonder if she is related to them?

And yes, I was glad to see they had good care.

[wombat2u2004]

OMG....those poor kids.

[lvpets2002]

:) Yes I understand they paid for them.. But at least they wanted these kids & was very good to them.. I hope this couple gets off lightly & maybe will have a chance to foster & or adopt the kids..
Helene, that would be good...except they paid some money and a bird for them. I hope they are not dealt with harshly, though.

Also - the biological parents are separating. They may be really good people who thought this lady was ok. I expect they are horrified and devastated.

I wonder if she is related to them?

And yes, I was glad to see they had good care.

[Twisterdog]

:) Yes I understand they paid for them.. But at least they wanted these kids & was very good to them.. I hope this couple gets off lightly & maybe will have a chance to foster & or adopt the kids..

I agree. Dumb idea, no doubt ... let's trade a bird for kids because we really want kids. But stupidity does not preclude one from loving and caring.

Obviously, the woman who traded them for a bird is an ogre, though. And what of the biological parents? So they were separating ... neither one of them could keep the kids? Sounds like a bad deal there, too.

Sounds like perhaps the not-too-bright folks might have been the first people to ever care about these poor kids.

[Catty1]

I agree that maybe the couple should get to keep the kids...but I doubt the authorities will see it that way. :(

[Catty1]

Oh, man...according to this, the biological parents have vanished. I've bolded a couple of sentences here.


http://law.rightpundits.com/?p=1274


In a case that is being called the Louisiana woman cockatoo deal, Donna Louise Greenwell has plead guilty of selling two kids for a bird. Greenwell and Paul and Brandy Romero had agreed to trade the kids for the bird and $175. Greenwell’s attorney, Steve Sikich, called it a clumsy attempt to have the do a good thing and have the children adopted. Unfortunately, it sounds more like an attempt to get a bird and some money for a couple of kids she didn’t want to keep.

Donna Greenwell, 53-years-old, has had custody of the two children in question for over a year. The children are a 5-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl. Sikich has said that the children’s mother left the children and abandoned them in her care. Neither the biological mother or father could be located.

Investigators said that Greenwell contacted Paul J. Romero, 46-years-old, and Brandy Lynn Romero, 27-years-old, of Eunice in Evangeline Parish earlier in the year. The contact was precipitated by Greenwell responding to a flyer posted by the Romeros offering a cockatoo for sale. When Greenwell contacted them, she offered to sale them the two children for $2,000. After some negotiations with the Romeros, they and Greenwell finally agreed to trade the children for the bird plus $175. The bird is valued at $1,500. Sikich stated that the $175 was for attorney fees to finalize the transfer of custody of the children and the cockatoo was a gift to Greenwell’s granddaughter.

Greenwell plead guilty to two criminal counts of sale of a minor. She was sentenced on Monday, February 22, 2010 to 15-months of hard labor on each of the two counts. Her sentences are to run concurrently. She could have faced up to 10-years on each count with an additional 20-years as a habitual offender. However, she made a plea deal with the Evangeline Parish District Attorney’s office. As part of the plea deal, the DA’s office did not file charges against her as a habitual offender. The habitual offender status is for previous convictions of writing bad checks and second-degree battery. She is scheduled to begin serving her sentence on March 25, 2010.

Meanwhile, Paul and Brand Romero also plead guilty to two felony counts of sale of a minor child. They received five-year sentences that were suspended in exchange for their testimony against Greenwall.

And so, the Louisiana Woman Cockatoo Deal fell through when Donna Louise Greenwell and Paul and Brandy Romero attempted to trade kids for a bird. Fortunately. There isn’t word on what has happened to the children since they have been abandoned by their parents, their caretaker is going to prison for attempting to sale them for a cockatoo and their potential ‘adoptive’ parents have been convicted of attempting to buy them. Some kids really don’t get a very fair break who they wind up with as the adults in their lives. Undoubtedly, where ever they end up will be better than where they came from.