Mother Allegedly Tried To Sell Newborn Baby Twice

A mother in Kentucky allegedly tried
selling her newborn baby daughter
twice.
Leeanna Brown, 24, first tried selling her
baby for $5,000 to an unnamed person,
but the deal fell apart, the New York
Daily News reports.
The second time, Brown gave the baby to
Luonda Martin, her cousin. As part of
the alleged deal, Brown wanted Martin to
pay her court costs and fines for another
case she had pending, local station WAVE
3 News reports. It has not been confirmed
whether Martin paid Brown.
But now the biological mother wants the
infant back.
On Tuesday, Martin showed up at the
local police station and told authorities
that she had been under the impression
Brown had given her custody of the
child. Martin had even posted photos of
the baby on Facebook with captions
referring to the child as hers.



A photo of the newborn baby posted on
Luonda Martin's Facebook page.



Virgil Willoughby, an Elizabethtown
police officer, told local news outlet
WDRB: "It's bizarre. You can't just
arbitrarily make a decision I'm going to
give this child to person A, B, or C and
take money in exchange for that."
Brown is now being charged with selling
or purchasing a child for adoption and
faces up to five years in prison.
Other court records, obtained by WDRB,
revealed that the biological mother had
previous convictions for check fraud,
shoplifting and -- most recently
possession of a controlled substance.
Brown also has two other children, a 1-
year-old and a 2-year-old, who were
with other families, according to the
arrest warrant obtained by WAVE 3
News.
All three of Brown's children are now in
custody with child protective services.