Police: Mother Traded Baby Daughter To Couple In Exchange For Used Car

THOMASVILLE, N.C. (CBS Local) -- Three people accused of trading a baby girl for a vehicle were arrested Wednesday, according to police in North Carolina.

The child's biological mother, 45-year-old Alice Leann Todd, of Thomasville, gave the baby girl to two people in exchange for a vehicle in 2018, investigators said.

Todd, Tina Marie Chavis, 47, and Chavis' husband, Vicenio Mendoza Romera, 53, were charged last week with the unlawful sale, surrender, or purchase of a minor, CBS affiliate WFMY reported.

The investigation began July 23 when officers responded to a report that a 2-year-old child was brought into Wake Forest Baptist Health High Point Medical Center in High Point with bruising, police said.

Thomasville police say Chavis brought the child to the hospital and initially claimed to be the child's mother. Chavis then claimed to have adopted the child, but didn't have any documentation to back that claim.

Hospital staff then alerted law enforcement and child protective services.

The investigation revealed Todd allegedly gave the child, then less than a year old at the time, to Chavis and Romero in exchange for a 1990s Plymouth.

The three were placed in the Davidson County Jail. Each is being held on $50,000 bail, authorities said.

The child was placed with a family member, according to police.