Police: Woman Gave Child Away

S A C R A M E N T O, Calif., July 13 -- A California woman has been chargedwith giving her 10-year-old son to someone she met on the Internetbecause she could no longer cope with his misbehavior.

The woman arranged to give the boy away nearly three months agoto a Florida man she knew only as Gus, then moved to another town,said Vacaville Police Detective Patrick Cowan.

The boy was found apparently unharmed over the weekend and willbe sent back to California, Cowan said.

The child’s mother, Helen Chase, 29, has posted $1,000 bond oncharges of child endangerment, child abandonment and failure toprovide for a child. No hearing date has been set.

There was no home telephone number listed for Chase, and policedid not have a lawyer listed for her.

Police: Woman Confessed

“She told us basically, yeah, she was having trouble with her10-year-old — problems at school, that sort of thing — reallytypical 10-year-old stuff,” Cowan said. “She just decided shecouldn’t deal with this kid and wanted to adopt him out — which iskind of unusual in the first place.”

Chase told police she attempted to have the boy adopted inDecember after he had what Cowan described as minor disciplinaryproblems. Cowan said police can find no record of any adoptionofficial talking with her.

In January, she began searching computer chat rooms and metGustaf Sjoberg of St. Petersburg, Fla., who wanted to adopt a7-year-old boy, Cowan said.

The boy’s behavior improved temporarily after Chase told him shewas planning to send him away, Cowan said. In February, however,she told police she could no longer deal with her son and arrangedfor Sjoberg to come get him on April 20.

Stepson Tells Police

Chase immediately moved to Elmira, 11 miles east of Vacaville,telling school officials her son was moving with her, Cowan said.He said police were alerted Friday by a stepson who told them “hisstepmother had given away his stepbrother.”