Foster Mum’s Monkey Trade Sparks Outrage After Police Discovery
A 70-year-old woman has been arrested in the US after shocking claims emerged that she tried to trade a foster child for a monkey. Brenda Ruth Deutsch is now facing serious charges, including child abuse, neglect, and endangerment, following an investigation into disturbing allegations.
Authorities in Lincoln County, Missouri, say several exotic monkeys were discovered at Deutsch’s home. What’s raised eyebrows — and alarm bells — is the suggestion that at least two of those monkeys arrived shortly after she allegedly sent a foster child in her care to a property in Texas, reported the Mirror.
According to Lincoln County Prosecutor Mike Wood, more than 200 calls had been made to Missouri’s Department of Social Services about Deutsch before her arrest. Speaking to NBC News, Wood described the alleged events as both bizarre and deeply worrying.
“It was described to me early on the defendant here, Brendan Deutsch, became frustrated with this individual child and asked her friend in Texas if she would just take the child and keep her,” he explained. “At that point, I think is when she says, ‘You know, why don’t you send a monkey and you can just keep the child?’”
Two witnesses have reportedly come forward with information about the monkey’s transport from Texas to Missouri — a move that has sparked concerns about whether the situation could potentially fall under human trafficking. “This has the potential to be an egregious human trafficking case,” Wood said. “Or, at bare minimum, it certainly is a very disheartening and disturbing abuse and neglect case.”
Sheriff Rick Harrell confirmed multiple monkeys were found at the property, where Deutsch is known to have fostered over 200 children in the last 20 years.
Even more unsettling, court documents allege that the child sent to Texas was left alone in a house and made to care for various exotic animals. That location is still under investigation, but so far, no one else has been arrested.
Deutsch is also accused of physically abusing the child before the Texas incident — allegedly hitting them in the face with objects like a paddle, shoes, and a piece of wooden trim between September 2022 and January of this year.
Since Deutsch’s arrest, more individuals have come forward with new allegations, and authorities say additional charges are likely. A teenage boy who was still living at her Missouri home has also been removed and taken into protective care by social services.
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