Covered in detail by Oklahoma’s News 9 station, a 22-year-old woman named Misty VanHorn was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly attempting to sell both of her children on the Internet. Using Facebook messaging as her communication medium, VanHorn first attempted to sell her two-year-old child for a price tag of $1,000. However, she upped the price to $4,000 after including her 10-month-old child as a package deal. According to Oklahoma investigators, she offered this price to an unnamed woman living in Fort Smith, Arkansas through a standard Facebook message.
Specifically, VanHorn wrote “Just come to Sallisaw. It’s only 30 minutes away and I give you all her stuff and let y’all have her forever for $1,000. But I have to have it before next week.” VanHorn was referring to her hometown of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, a city close to the Arkansas state line.
VanHorn claimed to have needed a quick influx of $1,000 in order to bail her boyfriend out of jail. After the Facebook message was sent, an acquaintance of VanHorn notified the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and VanHorn was quickly arrested.
When asked about VanHorn’s attempt to sell her own children, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics spokesman Mark Woodward stated “It’s very disturbing to hear of a case like this, and certainly very tragic that somebody would treat their own children like a commodity.” When asked about this type of crime, Woodward continued “A lot of the deals, interaction, conversations will take place on social network sites where people can basically hide behind a computer screen, and they can hide their identity.”
At the moment, VanHorn is being held at the Sequoyah County Jail on a significantly higher bond than her current boyfriend. Facing a complaint of trafficking minors, VanHorn will have to come up with $40,000 in order to get out of jail prior to her trial. Both children are now in the custody of the state of Oklahoma and the case is in the hands of the district attorney.
