Boy-for-sale ad linked to Sandpoint teen

An Internet ad offering a 4-year-old boy for $5,000 that launched a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office investigation and drew international attention turned out to be the work of a bored North Idaho teenager.

Sandpoint police tracked the Craigslist ad to a 17-year-old boy, who told an investigator he posted it as a joke.

“He was home with nothing else to do, and he thought it’d be funny,” said Sandpoint police Lt. Corey Coon, who took over the investigation after Spokane County investigators tracked the computer that created the post to that area of North Idaho.

But authorities aren’t laughing. Coon is investigating possible criminal charges such as identity theft, fraud or violation of Idaho’s adoption laws. He hopes to send his report to the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office by Monday.

Read the rest of my story here.

Past coverage:

April 20: Boy-for-sale Craigslist query switches states

March 17: Boy-for-sale ad triggers investigation