Police: Young Kentucky girl gave birth after father sold her to another man
BEAVER DAM, Ky. - A Kentucky man who police say sold his juvenile daughter to another man has been arrested and charged with human trafficking.
State troopers and social services launched an investigation in November after investigators learned that the girl had given birth in March, the Kentucky State Police said Wednesday in a news release.
Authorities said the 34-year-old father sold his daughter to a 20-year-old man in August 2020 and the girl had been living with him since then. The younger man was charged with third-degree rape. Police did not release the girl's age.
The two Beaver Dam men were booked into the Ohio County Detention Center. They’re both being held on $50,000 bonds, jail records show. It wasn’t immediately clear if either had an attorney who could comment. The Associated Press is not publishing the names of the suspects in order to protect the identity of the alleged victim.
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Troopers say the girl and her baby are now in foster care, WFIE-TV reported. Authorities believe the 20-year-old man is the father of the child.
The investigation is ongoing. Troopers say there could be more charges and arrests.
Corey King from the Kentucky State Police told the station that this case is unlike any he’s seen before.
"It’s really disheartening, because we have for many years put the monster’s face on technology," King said. "Technology seems to be where all of these people tend to find our children, but in this situation, this was parents."
He continued, "Parents sold their child. That in itself is new for us here, but it’s scary overall because now do some of these monsters have a face of a parent? That’s really scary to me as a parent."