Pueblo police have recovered a 5-month-old baby they say was sold by his mother for cash and the down payment on a car.
Police said they learned Monday that Nicole Uribe, 23, sold her baby boy on Feb. 21 to Jose-Juan Lerma, 47, and his wife, Irene, 27, for an undisclosed amount of cash and the car payment.
Police identified both the alleged seller and buyers as Mexican nationals.
“We received information from a third party about the sale of the baby,” said Sgt. Brett Wilson of the Pueblo Police Department’s special victims unit. “Within hours (of learning of the sale), we were able to locate the baby.”
Wilson said Uribe “had been attempting to buy the automobile from a third party and negotiated the down payment as part of the sale of her baby.”
The infant is healthy and has been placed in a foster home, police said.
Uribe, who gave birth to the boy in Pueblo, is in custody for investigation of trafficking in children, a Class III felony, Wilson said.
Police said Tuesday they are in contact with the alleged buyers and planned to arrest them shortly. They too face possible charges of trafficking in children, Wilson said.
