KOKOMO —
A mother charged with trading her 4-month-old baby for money and drugs is behind bars in California awaiting extradition to Howard County to face six felony charges.
San Diego police picked up Anna M. Riggs on Saturday after receiving a tip she was in the area.
Capt. Greg Hargrove of the Howard County Sheriff Department said Riggs was visiting a relative in San Diego and did not believe she was eluding prosecution.
Police say Riggs and her husband, Brandon Riggs, tried to sell their son for $17,000 and drugs to Stephen P. Lynch Jr., 31, and his wife, Melissa D. Lynch.
Brandon Riggs has also been charged and is being held in the Cass County jail on unrelated drug charges.
Deputies arrested Stephen Lynch last week on a warrant. He is being held at the Howard County jail on a $75,000 bail. His attorney has filed a request for a speedy trial. Lynch is set to appear in Howard Superior Court 1 on Dec. 1 for his pretrial hearing and Dec. 16 for a trial, according to court records.
Police had not arrested Melissa Lynch as of Wednesday night, Hargrove said.
All four were charged with Class A felony conspiracy to deal in a narcotic, as well as conspiracy to commit child selling and profiting from an adoption as D felonies.
Anna and Brandon Riggs also were charged with welfare fraud for allegedly receiving $2,394 in food stamps and temporary assistance for needy families from December 2009 through July 31, 2011, even though the child no longer lived with his parents.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed Oct. 6 in Howard Superior Court 1, Stephen and Melissa Lynch gave Brandon and Anna Riggs $13,000, a car valued at $3,531 and drugs in exchange for the couple’s now 2-year-old son.
The child has been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.
The charges allege the transactions occurred between October 2009, when police say the Lynches took custody of the child, and March 2011.
The Lynches also delivered numerous drugs — including OxyContin, oxycodone, morphine sulfate, Xanax and methadone — to the Riggs in March 2011, knowing the couple were addicts, police say. The affidavit also states the child was born with a methadone addiction.
The affidavit also stated the Riggses “had a serious problem with methadone and couldn’t care for the child.”
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