From Deseret News archives:

Prosecutors probe talk of baby selling

Published: Saturday, March 13, 2004 9:32 p.m. MST
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Farley also said Rowland told him she was trying to get bail from one or more relatives in Florida. Farley said he was told by Rowland that she needed to have a Caesarean section and that she didn't want to have the child in jail. Rowland had already given birth, however, on Jan. 13.

Morgan said he knows Rowland is the mother of three children, including the girl born Jan. 13. There is speculation Rowland has given birth to as many as six children. There is also evidence to suggest that Rowland sold at least one child through a "legitimate" adoption agency, according to Morgan.

Rowland and one of her children were the subject of a July 2000 Pennsylvania court case, in which Rowland pleaded guilty to charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child for striking her then 2-year-old daughter in the face with her fist. A story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Saturday states that Rowland punched the child while in the checkout line of a grocery story after the girl ate a candy bar.

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Witnesses told police that Rowland then dragged the child from the store, slapping her several times before throwing the toddler into a car through an open window. When police arrived, Rowland also slammed the child on the car's trunk, causing her to hit her head, the story states. About 20 witnesses to Rowland's behavior formed a human chain around the woman's vehicle and prevented her from leaving the area before police could intervene, the paper reported.

In an interview with the Associated Press Friday, Rowland said her two children from her estranged husband have lived with his parents since 1997. She did not mention the previous conviction and said her children, ages 7 and 9, no longer live with her because she thought they were better off with their grandparents. Rowland was not available for an interview from the Salt Lake County Jail on Saturday.

Charges filed last week in Salt Lake County's 3rd District court state that Rowland was advised by a doctor at LDS Hospital to have a C-section as early as Jan. 2 because of difficulties that were life-threatening to the unborn babies. Court documents state Rowland would visit two more hospitals before giving birth Jan. 13.

Some parental rights advocates have accused the district attorney's office of making the case "political, " but Morgan said there is no such agenda.

"The only thing the District Attorney's Office wanted to do was to have someone come up and stand up for the dead baby," Morgan said.


Contributing: Jennifer Dobner

E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com

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