Foster mom charged with abuse as authorities investigate whether a girl was traded for a monkey
A Missouri foster mother has been charged with child abuse and endangerment as authorities investigate whether she traded an adopted daughter to someone in Texas for a monkey and mistreated other children in her care.The 70-year-old woman from Winfield has been jailed on $250,000 bond since her arrest over the weekend, with her next court appearance set for next Tuesday.No attorney is listed for the woman in online court records.
The 1,500-person town Winfield is about 45 miles (72.42 kilometers) northwest of downtown St.Louis.Prosecutors wrote in asking for a cash-only bond that the girl’s mother was a foster or adoptive parent to more than 100 children.
The filing said they had received information that some of those children also had suffered similar physical and emotional abuse.The Associated Press is not identifying the woman in an effort not to identity her child.The girl at the center of the case is in her teens.She told authorities she was beaten with wooden trim, shoes and a paddle, a detective with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office wrote in the probable cause statement.
The girl said she tried to tell people what was happening but that no one believed her.In February, a deputy who was working as a school resource officer in Missouri was contacted about the girl missing classes, the probable cause statement said.While investigating, the deputy was told of a rumor that the girl was traded for an exotic animal to someone in Texas.The deputy asked authorities in Texas to check on the girl, and she was returned to Missouri, where child welfare officials had gotten a tip several months earlier that the girl was being abused.Lincoln County prosecutor Mike Wood elaborated in an interview with KSDK-TV that a witness described being asked to bring the child down to Texas and bring the monkey back in return.
Wood said they will need to investigate further to see if that is credible.“What was disturbing is that the idea that that was even a possibility, li...