Myspace

Heidi Knowles.

?Taco Bell's "Why Pay More Value Menu®" offers more than a dozen ways to help folks save money on "food." Unfortunately, it's difficult to Beefy 5-Layer Burrito one's self to financial stability when there's a screaming 3-day-old infant diapering up the equation.

 

Police say Heidi Lynn Knowles (aka Heidi Gasaway), a 36-year-old mom from Vancouver, Wash., attempted to get even more value from her menu by trying to sell her 3-day-old son for $500 to a woman at the Taco Bell at 7006 Highway 99, in Vancouver.

The Columbian:

About 9:30 p.m. Thursday, officers were called to Kay's Motel, 6700 N.E. Highway 99. A woman had called 911 to report that Knowles approached her in the restaurant, handed the newborn to her and offered to sell him to her.

Deputies found Knowles at the motel with the infant, who appeared to be in good health. They called for officials with Child Protective Services who took custody of him, Sample said.

 

Answering a call from Seattle Weekly on Sunday, a Taco Bell employee asked permission to "just hang up on his <snip>in' ass" and did so.

As for Ms. Knowles, she has denied trying to sell her kid, and also apparently claims that she has no idea when he was born or who his real father is.

Regardless, she's now facing pending felony charges of child-selling.

That's right, the Evergreen State's law books come equipped with a statute that directly addresses the act of selling one's offspring or buying someone else's.

There are, however, a rather large number of exceptions to the law, including parents selling children to one another.

1) It is unlawful for any person to sell or purchase a minor child.

(2) A transaction shall not be a purchase or sale under subsection (1) of this section if any of the following exists:

(a) The transaction is between the parents of the minor child; or

(b) The transaction is between a person receiving or to receive the child and an agency recognized under RCW 26.33.020; or

(c) The transaction is between the person receiving or to receive the child and a state agency or other governmental agency; or

(d) The transaction is pursuant to chapter 26.34 RCW; or

e) The transaction is pursuant to court order; or
(f) The only consideration paid by the person receiving or to receive the child is intended to pay for the prenatal hospital or medical expenses involved in the birth of the child, or attorneys' fees and court costs involved in effectuating transfer of child custody.

(3)(a) Child selling is a class C felony.

(b) Child buying is a class C felony.

 

Not among the exceptions: "If the transaction takes place within 50 feet of a Nacho Cheese Chalupa."