A foster mum is alleged to have swapped an adopted daughter for a monkey to boost her exotic animal collection.
Brenda Deutsch, aged 70, has been charged with child abuse and endangerment in relation to the allegation she traded a kid for the animal in Texas. It led to reports of a child being missing and police investigated.
Officers continue to probe the alleged incident but have charged Deutsch, who has been a foster or adoptive parent to around 200 children over more than ten years. Mike Wood, prosecuting, said some of those children, including the girl in Texas, suffered physical and emotional abuse.
According to KSDK in the US, Mr Wood said: “A witness who had come forward with some information regarding the systemic abuse that was going on in the home, had said that they had been asked to bring the child down to Texas and bring the monkey back in return. Obviously we have to do more investigation to see if that’s actually credible or if that’s true.”
Mr Wood said Deutsch knows the woman to whom she allegedly gave the girl in return for the monkey. He added at least two witnesses have given statements to support claims this happened.
He continued: “As crazy as it sounds, we’ve had a few human trafficking cases in the past, so we’re treating it seriously.. There’s at least two witnesses who are coming forward saying that that was the case.”
The pensioner has been charged with three felony counts of neglect, child abuse and child endangering, but Mr Wood’s office says it anticipates more charges in the course of the investigation.
The prosecutor also believes there has been a “systemic failure” in relation to communication with and from Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division in relation to the girl. The prosecution office says the authorities will look at and learn from the case.
“On its face, it just seems like there was a systemic failure somewhere, and we’re looking into it to see if that is the case, how it can be addressed, and to the extent that there’s any criminal behaviour associated with it, we will look into that as well,” Mr Wood said.
Baylee Watts, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Social Services, provided no information about the case, writing in an email that “information related to specific child abuse and neglect investigations is closed and confidential under Missouri law, except under very limited circumstances.” Her email ended by urging people to call the agency’s hotline.
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