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Texas Woman Sentenced For Selling Son For $2,500 To Pay Off Drug Debt
Esmeralda Garza had also been trying to sell two of her toddler daughters in what the prosecutor described as a "most heinous offense."
A Texas woman has been sentenced to six years in prison after admitting to selling her 7-year-old son for $2,500 to settle a drug debt.
Esmeralda Garza agreed to a plea deal Friday in a case First Assistant District Attorney Matt Manning called a “most heinous offense,” according to KWES.
Garza was arrested after investigators went to serve a drug warrant at Garza’s house in June of last year and discovered she had sold her son to another couple for $2,500 to settle a drug debt she and her boyfriend owed at the time.
The Corpus Christi mom had also been planning to sell her two toddler daughters, KRIS-TV reports.
Garza pleaded guilty to three counts of sale of a child, one count of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to sell a child.
She was sentenced to six years in prison for each count of sale of the child, but the sentences will run concurrently along with the punishments she received for the two other charges against her, meaning she’ll only serve a six-year sentence.
Manning said Garza was “sentenced to the maximum” for the charges against her.
“It’s very important to us that we send a very clear and unequivocal message: If you hurt children or have the audacity to sell a child, we’re going to do all we can to hold you accountable and put you in prison where you belong,” he said.
The Department of Public Safety is still investigating possible cases against Garza’s boyfriend and the couple who reportedly bought the child.
It’s unclear where the three children involved in the case are currently living.
