Texas mother sold child for $2,500 to pay off drug debt, tried to sell 2 more.

Updated On 2/20/2021

Esmeralda Garza.

A South Texas woman is accused of selling her 7-year-old son and trying to sell two other young children to pay off a drug debt.

Esmeralda Garza, 29, was arrested Friday after a drug raid in Corpus Christi, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. She was booked into the Nueces County jail on a charge of sale or purchase of a child, with bail set at $100,000.

DPS agents who executed a search warrant at the home found a 7-year-old boy who had been sold to another adult. Two girls, ages 3 and 2, were in the process of being sold, authorities said.

According to an arrest report, a woman at the home told authorities she had paid Garza $2,500 for the boy, part of which cleared a drug-related debt, the Corpus Christi Caller Times reported.

A man and a woman at the home were arrested on drug-related charges; their names have not been released.

Authorities are continuing to investigate, and additional charges could be forthcoming.