Police say a Mexican mother sold her 5-month-old baby to get money for a down payment on a car

Jeffrey Wolf:

Pueblo Police say they responded to St. Mary Corwin Hospital on Monday on a tip that an infant that was sold by his mother.

Police say 23-year-old Nicole Uribe, a Mexican national, sold her baby boy to a couple on February 21.

Court documents show Uribe sold the baby for $1,500 cash. She then put a down payment on a Dodge Intrepid.

“Mom obviously wanted to get rid of the child for one reason or another and these other people were willing to take the child and then there was an exchange of monetary money." said Sgt. Brett A. Wilson with the Pueblo Police Department.

Police say Uribe sold the baby to 28-year-old Irene and 48-year-old Jose-Juan Lerma, who are also both Mexican nationals.

Uribe and the Lermas were arrested on charges of trafficking a child.

Uribe is also on an immigration hold because she is in the country illegally. She is being held on $50,000 bond in the Pueblo County Jail.

If she is convicted, she would serve her sentence in the United States and then be deported.

Jose-Juan Lerma is out in lieu of $50,000 bond. Irene Lerma is still in custody, also on an immigration hold.

The boy was found Monday and is currently in a foster home. He was born in Pueblo. Police are still looking for the baby's birth father.

“The child is find, healthy, and doing well,” said Wilson.

Child trafficking carries a prison sentence of up to 24 years and up to a $750,000 fine.

Mexican woman held for allegedly selling five-month-old baby

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