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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   711 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 28, 2025

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So read this court case today. The gist is simple: two fine specimen of humanity from Arkansas sold their baby to a stranger for $1000 and a case of beer (there was a written contract and everything, they are not some kind of savages!). A neighbor noticed and informed the police. The rest is predictable. But then we come to the sentences.

The man:

Urban pleaded guilty to one count of attempted accepting compensation for adoption, but prosecutors dropped one count of endangering the welfare of a minor. A judge accepted Urban’s plea deal, and he was sentenced to three years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections with an additional three-year sentence suspended.

The woman:

Ehlers pleaded guilty to both counts — attempting to accept compensation and endangering the child’s welfare — against her. But Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren suspended the charges in her plea deal and placed her on state-supervised probation for six years, according to court records.

So this is where I wonder - they guy pled guilty to just one count and got 3 years inside. The girl - who did absolutely the same thing, they did it together and in concert, and who pled to the same count and one more, worse one if I understand correctly - got essentially nothing, if she manages not to sell another baby within 6 years, she's free. So she clearly got much lesser punishment for at least the same - and formally, by charges, actually more severe - crime. Because she's female, I understand? Nobody think this is wrong? I really hope they don't plan to give the baby back to the "mother" and that's not the reason why she's not in jail.

Not a case of beer, a fucking six-pack. I hope it was at least not Bud Light.

Also quote, from that article you have linked:

Both parents signed, then added a disclaimer.

“After signing this there will be no changing y’all two’s minds to never contact again,” court records showed.

These are not applicants to Mensa.

As for the different sentences, without knowing the circumstances I'll withhold judgment, though each sentence for each individual seems bizarrely light to me for what, again to me, is an unimaginable crime. Simply that the male and female got different treatment does not bother me.

Do we know that compensation was the motive here? Based on the article it's possible that they were trying to give the child up to someone who could raise the baby better than they could and that the token compensation was just that. Obviously this would be an egregiously irresponsible way to do it, but that makes belief in one's unfitness for parenthood more understandable, not less.

I don't have any knowledge of the case, and this is all speculation. But I think it would explain the actions of everyone involved, prosecutors included, better than greed does.

It appears that they were charged under 'accepting payment for adoption' not child trafficking. The former is, yes, a crime, but normally addresses 1)running adoption agencies without proper licensing and 2)paperwork violations to enable fraud(relating to taxes, parental rights, custody disputes, etc). It's entirely possible it just has low sentences because they got charged with 'sketchy shit' and not 'heinousness'. As for why they were charged that way, probably because the DA thought it would be easier to prove.

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