Jessica Woods, Palatka, Florida mom arrested trying to sell 18 month old toddler daughter for $500 only to then abandon girl on street corner.
Probably not the parent of the year… A Florida mother is facing felony charges after abandoning her child along a street corner moments after attempting to pawn off her 18 month old toddler for $500.
Jessica Woods, 33, was on March 5, observed loitering outside an H&R Block location in Palatka, Fla., with her infant daughter when she was approached by a nearby bank employee.
The employee recognized Woods as the mother who frequented the area and even used the bank’s restroom to change her daughter.
Mom offers to sell toddler daughter for $500
Woods at one point was spotted hitting her daughter with her elbow and spanking her inside the bathroom, according to a probable cause affidavit viewed by the Daily Mail.
The next morning, on March 5, Woods was found sleeping on an exterior air conditioning unit while her daughter was inside a nearby shopping cart with no blankets.
The bank employee asked the woman if she needed help, with Woods in turn allegedly demanded money.
The employee instead offered to buy the mother and daughter something to eat, which frustrated Woods, with the parent throwing her child.
Later in the day, Woods returned to the bank, where she placed her child on the ground — with the child crawling toward traffic.
The employee picked the child up, with Woods asking the worker whether she wanted to purchase her daughter.
‘Woods told the citizen she did not need anything but, offered to sell the child to the citizen for $500,’ the Palatka Police Department said in a press release. ‘When the citizen refused to purchase the child, Woods walked away, leaving her daughter behind.’
The employee brought the toddler inside the bank to clean her up before reporting Woods to the police.
Officers brought the child into their care until the Department of Children and Families arrived and took custody of the girl.
‘As a result of an investigation, Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Woods charging her with child abuse, child neglect, and abandonment of a child.’
The whereabouts of the child’s biological father was not immediately known.
The child has since been put into foster care.
Woods was located March 7 and charged with six felonies.
She was placed into Putnam County Jail and booked for selling or surrendering a minor for money or property, unlawful desertion of a child, aggravated child abuse, and three counts of abuse child without great bodily harm.
The charges added up to a bond of $255,000, according to court records.
