A man has been sentenced for nearly a year after he tried to sell his girlfriend’s child for $2,500 at a gas station while high on drugs. According to reports, local police got a call last Sunday, August 16, reporting that Harry Day was trying to sell the four-year-old child at the Speedy Mart in Corbin. A witness reportedly overheard the 29-year-old man’s conversation about the child before calling the police. After receiving Day’s car’s registration, police tracked him down to his home where he was found living with his girlfriend, Gertrude Hinson, and the child. The house reportedly belonged to the 26-year-old girlfriend. In a statement, Kentucky State Police said: “While at the residence troopers found Methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.”
Following the discovery, Day was charged with promoting human trafficking of a child under the age of 18. Besides, he also faced charges related to impaired driving. His girlfriend, Hinson, a mother-of-two, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor. On Monday, August 17, Day appeared in Knox County District Court where he pleaded guilty to the promoting human trafficking charge. He was awarded 360 days in jail while his charges against driving under the influence were dropped under a plea agreement. The date of Hinson’s court appearance has not been released.
In another incident, a Texas couple was charged with child endangerment and injury to a child after a three-month-old suffered multiple broken bones while her elder sibling tested positive for methamphetamine. The alleged incident came to light after the mother, Alexzandria Sellers, took the younger kid to the Covenant Women’s and Children’s Emergency Room for “leg swelling” on July 20.
The court documents stated that doctors at the facility found a fractured femur along with an older fracture of the left clavicle that may be older and not healing after examining the toddler. They also found a distal femur fracture. In addition, the documents revealed that the infant had lost half a pound since her weigh-in two weeks earlier. The incidents were then reported to the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) investigators as “intentional trauma” by the doctors at the hospital.
According to DFPS investigators, the child “looked severely underweight” and “you could visibly see her ribs and bones”. The 25-year-old mother initially did not provide any details about the abuse. Investigators also interrogated the father of the kids, Oscar Gonzales, who told them he put the baby’s legs “Indian style” on the bed, but did not explain why he did that.
However, later Sellers told police that Gonzales admitted to her that he physically abused the toddler and also recorded the abuse. A warrant was then obtained and investigators searched Gonzales’ phone, where they found several photographs showing the alleged abuse of the infant. A report by DFPS investigators also stated that the infant’s two-year-old sibling tested positive for methamphetamine.
The parents were booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center, where they were held on a $40,000 bond each.
