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A Louisiana woman has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, after she allegedly traded two young children for a pet bird and $175. Fifty-three-year-old Donna Greenwell, a long-haul trucker from Pitkin, was at a livestock barn when she noticed a posted flier selling a cockatoo for $1,500. She called the number, and that's when she met the Romeros.
Paul Romero, 46, and Brandy Lynn Romero, 27, of Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, were the ones selling the bird. When Donna showed up to look at the bird, the three began to talk. Although Paul had three children from a previous marriage, they wanted more together. The two had been trying unsuccessfully to have a child together for years. That's apparently when Donna, who has an extensive arrest record that includes charges of kidnapping, assault and theft, hatched an idea. (Or perhaps she laid an egg.) It just so happened that she had two youngins' she might be willing to part with.
As it turns out, Donna had been caring for two children that weren't her own for about a year now. The 5-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl had been handed over to her by their mother to take care of. (Makes you wonder how neglectful their original environment must have been for this lady to be a step up, doesn't it?) Donna called the Romeros on February 18, 2009, to try and secure a transaction for the two kids. At first, she allegedly offered to sell the boy and girl outright for around $2,000. But when the Romeros said they couldn't afford that, "Ms. Greenwell agreed to make an even trade," says Keith Dupre, a detective with the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office.
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