July 13--A Corbin couple is accused of trading a woman a 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup truck for her infant child, Laurel County Sheriff John Root said.
Officers with the department arrested Jeremy and Jamiee Brown on Thursday on charges of human trafficking, according to a release from Root's office. The couple had the baby, now 6 months old. The baby was placed in the care of state child-welfare workers, the release said.
The Browns allegedly made the trade soon after the baby was born. Root's office started investigating based on information from a confidential source, and officers were able to find the pickup truck.
The current owner told police he had bought the truck from a woman named Heather Kaminskey for $800, according to Root's office, but a further check showed the Browns had owned it at one point.
Through questioning the couple, police located Kaminskey's mother, who told them Kaminskey had left Florida in January, when she was nine months pregnant, because she was wanted on meth charges. Kaminskey came to Kentucky to have the child in order to evade child-protective workers in Florida, who had taken away her two other children, according to Root's office.
The human-trafficking charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The Browns have three biological children. Relatives took them, according to the news release.
Kaminskey has not been seen in Laurel County for several days. Police plan to charge her and seek an order for her to be brought back to Kentucky, according to Root's office.
Detectives Jason Back and Brad Mitchell and Lt. Rodney Van Zant conducted the investigation.
Copyright 2012 - The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.
