Father Gets 3 Years for Trying to Sell 2-Year-Old

A Van Nuys father convicted last month of attempting to sell his 2-year-old daughter to a couple for $90,000 was sentenced Friday to three years in state prison.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Thomas Schneider labeled Alan Daniel’s conduct “grossly reprehensible” and criticized him for treating his daughter as “chattel.”

Schneider said the child will likely be permanently scarred by the rejection by her father, who acted out of “greed and avarice.”

Daniel, 30, faced a maximum of four years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after serving about half his sentence.

Couldn’t Support Girl

Daniel was convicted under the slavery section of the California penal code, which makes it a felony to sell or attempt to sell any human being.

According to testimony during last month’s jury trial, Daniel, who felt incapable of providing proper care for his daughter, Fallon, allowed her to stay seven months with a childless Encino couple while they pursued her formal adoption.

Daniel took the girl for a visit last November on her second birthday and refused to return her to Ronald and Susan Miulli unless they paid him $90,000, which was the difference between the market price of their home and the mortgages they owed.

The Miullis have since become licensed foster parents and are caring for the child, whom they renamed Megan. They have filed for adoption and are fighting Daniel in juvenile court for permanent custody. According to their attorney, Lawrence Brown, the custody issue should be resolved by the end of the year.

Testimony revealed that the girl’s mother, who was never married to Daniel, has a history of drug addiction and abandoned the child shortly after birth. She attended the sentencing hearing Friday and said outside the courtroom that she hopes the county allows the Miullis to adopt her daughter.

“I feel wonderful about the adoption,” said the mother, Athena Augustus. “I feel the Miullis are very good parents.”

Daniel’s attorney, Peter Brown, continued to maintain that Daniel never intended to sell his daughter but was merely seeking financial compensation to hasten the adoption and to help him care for his 5-year-old son. The boy is now living with Daniel’s parents, Brown said.