Police arrest one in baby-selling scheme, seek two other suspects

KOKOMO (WISH) - Howard County deputies on Thursday arrested a man accused of trading cash and drugs in exchange for a baby.

Howard County Sheriff's Department deputies arrested one of four people believed to be involved in the baby selling scheme, Stephen P. Lynch Jr., 31, on Thursday afternoon. One other person, the child’s biological father, Brandon Riggs, is in the Cass County Jail on unrelated charges, the sheriff’s department said Friday evening.

The sheriff’s department is seeking the public’s help to locate the child’s biological mother, Ann Riggs, and the other person the sheriff’s department said was involved in the scheme, Melissa Lynch.

Anyone with information should call the Howard County Sheriff's Department at 765-457-1105.

The trade allegedly took place in October 2009, when the child was 4 months old. A tip from a witness to the scheme led the sheriff’s department to begin investigating the case on May 20 of this year.

Further investigation revealed that on or about March 10, 2011, the Riggses and Lynches attempted to file a petition for adoption through Howard Circuit Court; however the requirements for adoption had not been met.

Lynch is preliminarily charged with conspiracy to deal in a narcotic, a Class A felony, and conspiracy to commit child selling and profiting from an adoption, both Class D felony, along with possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia. He was being held Friday in the Howard County jail on $75,000 bond.