A Kentucky couple has been arrested on human trafficking-related charges after allegedly trying to sell their newborn twin daughters for $5,000.
The Jackson County couple, Zackary Davis and Jacquilyn Keith, claim the offer was just a joke.
Law enforcement had been contacted by Davis’ sister-in-law, who claimed the couple offered to sell her the twins. She provided recordings and screenshots of conversations that allegedly back up her claims.
Both parents confessed to agreeing to sell her the children, but claim they never intended to follow through with it.
“She said, ‘I give you five grand.’ I said, ‘ha, ha, yeah, you can have my kids for five grand,” Davis said, according to a report from the Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail reports:
According to the sheriff’s department police report, the mother told officers that her husband’s relatives manipulated him into giving them permission to keep the babies.
Davis claimed the kids are his world, and the reason he worked on cleaning up his life.
‘I am trying to get the word out there that this is all corrupt, and I had my kids stolen from me. They have took my kids from me,’ he said.
“Fortunately, this is the first time I’ve ever had to charge this, and hopefully I never have to charge it again,” Chief Deputy Zachary Bryant told local station WYMT.
“Jackson County’s very small, the population’s around 13,000,” Bryant said. “Pretty much everybody knows everybody, so it is a sad situation.”
Davis and Keith are both being held at the Jackson County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
All five of the couple’s children have been placed in another home.