NEW CASTLE, Del. -- A mother of three is accused of trying to sell her newborn son for $15,000 so she could go to Disney World, police said.
Bridget M. Wismer, 33, and John F. Gavaghan, 54, of Philadelphia, who allegedly tried to buy the baby, were charged early Saturday with felony dealing in children, said New Castle County police Cpl. John Weglarz.
The investigation began Sept. 4, when police got a call from Wismer's grandmother saying her granddaughter was trying to "sell her newborn son to a homosexual couple for $15,000 because she did not want the child," according to court papers.
When officers checked with a state Division of Family Services caseworker, they were told the agency had begun investigating Wismer on Aug. 31 when she gave birth to a son at Christiana Hospital. The division also had been told that Wismer planned to sell the baby, police said.
The baby's birth certificate lists Gavaghan as the biological father.
"He is not the biological father," Weglarz said. "They didn't even have a relationship. They met through mutual friends."
Detectives interviewed Wismer's mother and other family members, and they all denied that she planned to sell the infant. They alleged the grandmother was "confused when she made the initial allegation," according to court records.
Investigators were unable to substantiate the information until Thursday, when they received a call from a state police detective, Weglarz said.
The detective said Gavaghan - a horse owner - had been captured on video surveillance Sept. 3 at a Delaware casino completing paperwork given by a woman and giving an unrelated woman cash and a money order, police said in court records.
The surveillance video also captured the writing on one of several handwritten documents dated prior to Aug. 31 that contained information about "payments and balance due 'for a child to be born on Sept. 8,'" police said in court records.
Assisted by Philadelphia police, county detectives searched Gavaghan's apartment and found the baby and evidence linking Gavaghan to the crime.
"They found the baby and turned him over to Social Services in Philadelphia," Weglarz said. "He was later turned over to Family Services in Delaware and is now in foster care."
During an interview with police Friday, Gavaghan acknowledged entering into an agreement with Wismer and that he wasn't the baby's biological father, although he signed the birth certificate as such.
Wismer told police she had received money from Gavaghan in exchange for her son.
Gloria Hockman, director of communications for the National Adoption Center, said the sale "certainly is an unwholesome and inappropriate way to deal with a baby you don't want to raise," she said.
She also said it is not uncommon.
"Lots of people are waiting in line for babies," she said. "This is not the first time that I've heard about someone paying for a baby. If her motive is to make $15,000, that's going to be an issue. But if she thought that the man would make a good father, she could have taken him to an agency or to an attorney who could have arranged a home study."
Wismer was released after posting $750 secured bail on the charges and $1,500 secured bail and $75 cash bail on an outstanding warrant.
Gavaghan was released on $7,000 unsecured bail and ordered to have no contact with the baby.
USA Today