Juniper Bryson, 21, was charged with attempting to sell her newborn infant to the highest bidder on Facebook.
Juniper Bryson, 21, was charged with attempting to sell her newborn infant to the highest bidder on Facebook.
An American woman has been arrested after she allegedly tried to sell her unborn baby to the “highest bidder” on Facebook before trying to extort adoptive parents for money at the maternity ward.
Juniper Bryson, 21, of Texas, took to social media seeking “adoptive parents” for her baby days before she was set to give birth, the New York Post reported.
Wendy Williams, who was desperate to adopt a baby, responded to Bryson’s post and signed legal paperwork to adopt the 21-year-old’s unborn child.
According to broadcaster ABC13, Williams travelled to the hospital in anticipation of the birth. But when she arrived she soon learned the “adoption” was a scam and Bryson wanted money.
Instead, Bryson spent her last few days of pregnancy trying to get money on Facebook for her baby.
Juniper Bryson was allegedly attempting to sell her unborn baby to desperate adoptive parents before breaking their hearts when they refused to pay.
According to police, she demanded cash from would-be parents, and was “waiting for the highest bidder in exchange for her son” even after birth while in the recovery room.
In the build-up to the birth, one relative took to Facebook, writing that Bryson “needs someone there during labour and take baby boy home”.
However, in a message exchange, Bryson weighed in saying whoever adopted her son was “gonna have to compensate”.
Despite allegedly being told by her relative selling her baby was “illegal” she posted on a Facebook group that links birth mothers with hopeful adoptive parents.
In her initial messages, she didn’t mention compensation, but as several hopeful parents reached out, Bryson’s tune changed and grew hostile when hopeful parents-to-be showed hesitation, according to court documents.
Juniper Bryson, 21, was charged with attempting to sell her newborn infant to the highest bidder on Facebook.
In one message, when asked how much money Bryson wanted, she wrote: “It’s not even like that, just enough to move into an apartment so I can work a job and get [blanked out word] or a cheap down payment on any car to get to different places to door dash nothing crazy at all.”
One couple allegedly was halfway through a 500km drive when they got a message from Bryson asking for a $150 transfer.
When the suspecting couple wanted to discuss it on the phone, Bryson refused to pick up and wrote “Don’t text my mf phone again unless it’s sent”.
Bryson’s alleged ruse came to an end when Williams, who is a licensed foster care worker, caught on to the birth mother’s antics following the birth on September 24.
The baby was born on September 24, three days after Juniper Bryson's first attempt to sell her baby.
Bryson had named Williams in a Facebook post, which attracted angry responses where people confronted Williams writing “How dare you buy this baby”.
Williams called child services after she confronted Bryson about the alleged scam. Police were informed of a price war between suspecting parents in which Bryson was waiting “for the highest bidder”.
She was arrested on September 26, two days after she had given birth.
