Boy given away on web to be returned
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., July 13 (UPI) -- A 10-year old boy allegedly given away on
the Internet will be returned from St. Petersburg, Fla., to California
authorities this month.
His 29-year-old mother, Helen Chase of Elmira, Calif., has been charged with
child abandonment, child endangerment and failure to provide for a child. She
has posted a $1,000 bond and no date for a hearing has been set.
The boy was taken away from his Gustaf and Deborah Sjorberg in St. Petersburg
and turned over to a foster home after authorities learned how he got to
Florida.
The boy's father is in a California state prison and has been notified.
In January of this year, Helen Chase met a man who identified himself only as "
us" in an Internet chat room. Sjorberg told Chase that he and his wife wanted to
adopt a 7-year old boy.
Chase told Sjorberg that he and his wife could adopt her boy. Gus Sjorberg flew
to California April 20 and returned the same day with the boy.
No charges have been filed against the Sjorbergs. Pinellas County Sheriff's
Department detectives said Thursday they believe that neither of the Sjorbergs
gave Chase money for the boy.
The Sjorbergs have five children, four of which were adopted. |
