NEW ORLEANS -- A Louisiana woman has pleaded guilty to
selling two children for a cockatoo and $175 in what her
attorney called an attempt to do a good thing that went
wrong.
"It was a really clumsy attempt at an adoption
proceeding," said Steve Sikich, attorney for Donna Louise
Greenwell of Pitkin. "She was trying to help the children
and get them situated."
Greenwell, 53, was sentenced Monday to 15 months of hard
labor on each of two criminal counts: sale of a minor. The
sentences are to run concurrently.
The case centered on a 5-year-old boy and a 4-year-old
girl in Greenwell's custody.
Investigators said she called Paul J. Romero, 46, and
Brandy Lynn Romero, 27, of Evangeline Parish early last
year after seeing a flyer they posted offering a cockatoo
for sale, and offered to deliver the children for about
$2,000. When the Romeros said they could not afford that,
a deal was stuck for the bird, valued at $1,500, plus cash.
Greenwell had custody of the children for more than a year
before meeting the Romeros, Sikich said. Her lawyers have
maintained she was just trying to find a better home for
them.
"They were undernourished and not well taken care of,"
Sikich said. "It's my understanding that the mother had
requested that she take care of the kids."
Another lawyer for Greenwell had said previously that the
children were "abandoned to her care."
Neither the children's mother or father could be located,
Sikich said.
The $175 was to cover the cost of an attorney to transfer
custody of the children to the Romeros, Sikich said. The
cockatoo was a gift to Greenwell's granddaughter, he said.
Greenwell's sentences were part of a plea deal worked out
with the Evangeline Parish District Attorney's office.
Sikich said Greenwell could have faced up to 10 years on
each count and another 20 years as a habitual offender.
The district attorney agreed not to file charges against
Greenwell as a habitual offender as part of the plea
bargain, Sikich said.
"She did not have a good attorney for two previous counts,
which left her with a record she didn't really deserve,"
he said. He said the charges were for issuing worthless
checks and second-degree battery.
The Romeros, of Eunice, pleaded guilty to two felony
counts of sale of a minor child, the district attorney
said in an earlier statement. Their five-year prison
sentences were suspended in exchange for their testimony
against Greenwell, the statement said.
The district attorney's office did not return repeated
calls Tuesday for comment.
Greenwell will begin serving her sentence on March 25.
