Del. woman, 33 Yr Old Bridget M. Wismer tried to sell baby for Disney World trip/Mom and accomplice John Gavaghan take plea deal, to serve five years/Wismer gets 5 yrs prison, suspended for 18 mos intensive mental health probation/Gavaghan gets 1 yr prob

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.
Police say they confirmed last week that Bridget Wismer, 33, and John Gavaghan, 54, had agreed on the sale and purchase of her newborn baby.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.
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Baby for Sale -- Two Women Arrested

An attempted baby sale has landed two Texas women in jail and a slew of other charges may come. This comes during a terrifying time of such missing kids as baby Lisa Irwin and Jahessye Shockley. One almost has to wonder if selling your children is really more common than once thought.

Sources report that 29-year-old Joana Dealcruz Huerta tried to sell her baby to 27-year-old Marilu Munoz. Fortunately for the child, the women's plans were foiled and now they're both in jail -- the child is in custody of child services. The two Abilene women could each face up to 10 years in prison for this human trafficking crime.

These aren't the only two women in the news lately for selling their babies. A woman by the name of Bridget Wismer not only got caught selling her baby and posting the plans on Facebook, but she still denies any wrongdoing to this day.

How many women in the United States are selling their babies?

It just seems odd that so many people are caught selling their own children lately. Most of the time drugs are to blame for this irresponsible and despicable behavior. In the case of Bridget Wismer, she wanted to take her other kids to Disneyland, so selling her newborn seemed like a fine idea. Sources aren't revealing just why Joana Dealcruz sold her baby to this other woman, but it would be interesting to find out.
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Bridget Wismer

A mother accused of selling her new-born son for $15,000 to afford a trip to Disney World has pleaded guilty along with her baby's intending buyer.
Delaware mother Bridget Wismer, 34, planned to use the money paid by 55-year-old John Gavaghan to take her other two children to the theme park before her arrest last summer, prosecutors alleged.
She pleaded guilty to the sale but mentally ill to falsifying her one-month-old's birth certificate to list Gavaghan, who has a criminal record, as the boy's father.


Falsifying that information is a felony offense.
'We believe this is the appropriate resolution for both the state and the parties and it will address the issues that need to be addressed and holds the defendants accountable,' State Deputy Attorney General Phyllis Scully said of the pleas, according to DelmarvaNow.com.

Both Wismer and Gavaghan reached a plea deal facing them with up to five years behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000 come their sentencing in August.
Wismer previously said that accusations she intended to sell her son named Christian to Gavaghan and his male partner were the result of a big misunderstanding.

They were arrested two days after Gavaghan received the baby thanks after suspicions by Wismer's grandmother. The baby was placed in foster care.
In a Hallmark card given the Wismer at her baby shower by Gavaghan, two weeks before his delivery, allegedly thanked her for giving him a baby.
'Bridget, thanks with all our hearts for giving me and Antonio a baby,' Gavaghan wrote.
'We love you, respect you and with all our hearts,' Gavaghan added. 'You made our life full.'
'Bridget, thanks with all our hearts for giving me and Antonio a baby. We love you, respect you and with all our hearts. You made our life full.'
- John Gavaghan
Wismer said Gavaghan is a friend who offered to help when she found herself pregnant, in a difficult home situation, and unwilling to get an abortion.
She also says she didn't want to give her baby up for adoption because she would never see him again.
'I was just waiting for a miracle,' she said, adding that she gratefully accepted Gavaghan's offer to help. 'I was so positive about what I was doing.'
Wismer said the charges stem from confusion on the part of her grandmother, who had alerted authorities that her granddaughter wanted to sell her baby to a homosexual couple.
A statement of probable cause said that a tipster advised authorities that Wismer was trying to sell the child because she did not want it and sought money for a trip to Disney World.
Wismer said that while Gavaghan has given her money to help pay bills and take care of her baby and her two other sons, there was never any agreement to sell her baby.
nstead, she agreed to let Gavaghan and his longtime partner, who has previously considered adopting a child, help her take care of the baby.
Wismer said a Division of Family Services worker had told her before the baby was born that DFS would close an investigation undertaken in response to the grandmother's report, as long as social services officials in Philadelphia cleared Gavaghan.
Delaware authorities who interviewed several people said they indicated the tipster was confused about the circumstances, according to the statement of probable cause.
However, he told police he arranged to take the baby and put himself down on the birth certificate as the child's biological father, even though that was not the case, according to the statement of probable cause.
Wismer said Gavaghan was at the hospital for the boy's birth. Authorities allege that Gavaghan agreed to pay Wismer an additional $2,000 to have his name on the birth certificate, an accusation she denied.
Wismer said Gavaghan offered a couple of weeks ago to send her and her children to Walt Disney World as a Christmas present, but that he did not want her to tell the children because he wanted it to be a surprise.
'He is the most generous person in the world,' Wismer said.
Wismer also denied claims by authorities that the boy was born addicted to opiates. She said her son was born healthy but had a reaction that she believes was related to a pain reliever she had taken during her pregnancy, as well as her smoking and drinking caffeine while pregnant.
Wismer said she was aware that Gavaghan, who authorities allege has sold prescription drugs and been a bookmaker, had a criminal history that includes pleading guilty to theft and bad check charges.
'I don't think he's a bad guy,' she said.
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Wismer also denied claims by authorities that the boy was born addicted to opiates. She said her son was born healthy but had a reaction that she believes was related to a pain reliever she had taken during her pregnancy, as well as her smoking and drinking caffeine while pregnant.

Smoking caffeine? Maybe I need to go to bed.

A Delaware judge sentenced a mother charged with trying to sell her baby to a Philadelphia man for $15,000 so she could take her other kids to Disney World to a mental health treatment program after pleading guilty but mentally ill to a charge of falsifying a birth certificate.

A Superior Court judge in Wilmington sentenced Bridget Wismer thursday to five years in prison, with 14 days credit for time served. The judge suspended the sentence for 18 months of intensive mental health probation.

Wismer also was ordered to secure job training and to have no contact with co-defendant Jack Gavaghan.

Gavaghan, who also pleaded guilty to falsifying a birth certificate, was to be sentenced Friday.

As a condition of her sentence, Wismer also must not consume any alcohol or illegal drugs and will be subjected to curfew checks.

Wismer’s baby was born Aug. 31, 2011 addicted to opiates, according to court documents.

After the story broke Wismer held back tears as she spoke to NBC10.

"My friend was helping me take care of my son that I just had," Wismer said. "He’s always tried to adopt and I couldn’t raise another child.

"I wanted the best for my baby and he wanted the best for the baby and we did it the way we thought we were supposed to."
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A Pennsylvania man accused of trying to buy a Newark-area woman's baby for $15,000 has been sentenced to probation.

John Gavaghan had pleaded guilty to falsifying a birth certificate. He was sentenced in New Castle County Superior Court to two years in prison, but that was suspended immediately and changed to one year of probation.

Gavaghan's co-defendant, Bridget Wismer, was sentenced Thursday to a mental health treatment program after pleading guilty but mentally ill to a charge of falsifying a birth certificate.

A Wilmington judge sentenced Wismer to five years in prison but suspended that sentence for 18 months of intensive mental health probation.
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