Police probe eBay posting to sell Mich. toddler
ALLENDALE TOWNSHIP, Michigan—Authorities say a western Michigan woman offered a 2-year-old relative for sale on eBay and accepted a man’s tongue-in-cheek bid.
The Holland Sentinel says police located the woman in Ottawa County’s Allendale Township, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Grand Rapids. The woman had been caring for the child. The girl is now in her mother’s custody.
Nineteen-year-old Autumn Braden tells The Grand Rapids Press she did it to “see how eBay worked” and it “wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.”
Ottawa County sheriff’s Lt. Mark Bennett says police received calls about the Internet posting Monday from as far away as California.
Bennett says one bidder who thought it was a hoax called police when the bid was accepted and helped lead them to the woman.
