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Fla. Woman Pleads No Contest In Scheme To Sell Grandson

DAYTONA BEACH (CBS4)-A Florida woman has pleaded no contest to charges related a scheme to sell her infant grandson in Volusia County for $30,000.

Patty Bigbee, a Tampa Bay area woman, pleaded no contest Thursday to selling a child and communications fraud. She faces up to 10 years in prison at her August 11 sentencing.

Authorities said the 46-year-old woman and her boyfriend, 42-year-old Lawrence Works, accepted a $30,000 cashier's check in November for then-2-month-old Aidan Fleming at a Daytona Beach parking lot after the couple met with an agent posing as a buyer.

Works and the child's mother, 22-year-old Stephanie Bigbee-Davis, both pleaded no contest for their parts in the scheme in March.

Authorities said Bigbee-Davis knew about her mother's attempt to sell her infant son, and wanted some of the money to pay for a new car.

Agents said Bigbee met with a couple and originally planned to sell the infant for $75,000, but was negotiated down to $30,000.

FDLE spokeswoman Susie Murphy said Works, who was also charged with the illegal sale or surrender of a child, aided the transfer by placing the child's belongings into the car he thought belonged to the woman buying the child.

The tip came from Bigbee's biological daughter, Danielle Skiver, 27, whom she had given up for adoption 26 years ago and had recently reconnected with on Facebook.

During one of their conversations, Skiver mentioned she wanted a baby and Bigbee offered up her grandson for sale. Skiver then alerted authorities, Murphy said.

Works was sentenced to the 133 days he'd already spent in jail. Bigbee-Davis received a two-year sentence, which is running concurrently with another sentence for an unrelated fraud conviction.

Aidan remains in foster care.

(© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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