Girl, 14, Tells Police of Being Sold Twice by Parents

A 14-year-old girl taken into custody for panhandling outside a strip joint stunned police by telling them her Gypsy parents had twice sold her to other families, once for about $11,000.

Nonetheless, authorities released the girl five days later to her mother’s custody in Fresno.

“We’ve talked to relatives and they’ve confirmed the story of her being sold to other families. It’s a very bizarre case,” said a police spokesman in Phoenix, Sgt. Mike Torres.

It’s not illegal in Arizona for a family to sell a child to another family for reasons other than sex, slavery or servitude, the Arizona attorney general’s office said Friday. Charges against the girl were dropped.

And although it is illegal to sell another person in California, police in Fresno decided they could not determine that a crime was committed there, said Fresno Det. Lt. John Frieze.

The girl told police that her parents had sold her twice, the first time last year for about $11,000 to a family in Fresno. She said she suffered a miscarriage and was returned to her family for a partial refund. Shortly after Christmas, she was resold to another family for more than $5,000, said Tucson Det. Joel Olson.

“We do know that they sold her as per tradition of their culture,” Torres said.

Newspapers in Tucson and Fresno quoted a woman identified only as the girl’s grandmother as saying that selling a child is a Gypsy custom, “but it’s not right. No mother should give away a daughter for money.”

Tucson police arrested Sampson Peres, 19, of Phoenix, a companion of the girl. He was charged with child molestation, sex abuse of a minor and sexual conduct with a minor, and was jailed in lieu of $15,000 bail.

The girl was initially arrested for lying to police about her identity and on suspicion of health, welfare and morals violations, a charge often used for children who put themselves in danger.