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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.
