In a "baby-selling" case of sorts, a Missouri woman has been charged with child abduction and unauthorized adoption, after having "bought" a baby girl from a Kewaskum couple in December 2004.

The 36-year-old Denise Novotny of Clinton, Mo., who is presently in a Missouri jail, allegedly paid $6,000 to David and Angela Schmidt of Kewaskum, on receiving the infant soon after her birth at Hartford's Aurora Medical Center. The Schmidt couple has admitted the girl was theirs, and it was for money that they willingly gave her up.

According to Peter Cannon, the Washington County Assistant District Attorney, Novotny got the couple around to signing a surrogate birth agreement to cover-up the crime, and make it appear legal. In unauthorized adoption charge results from the allegation that Novotny neither officially adopted the baby nor has filed a birth certificate.

Expressing shock, Donna Strayer, Director of Adoption Services in Mequon, said: "Real surrogacy can be a good option for people who are experiencing infertility." Strayer added that selling a baby was unlawful, and that the Schmidts should have taken the legal route if they were looking at financial help by giving up their baby.

It is not yet clear whether the Schmidts will face charges, because they neither initiated the complaint, nor did they ask for the return of their daughter!