An Arkansas couple faced different legal consequences after attempting to sell their 6-month-old baby for beer and cash.

According to Benton County court records obtained by Law&Crime, 22-year-old Darien Urban admitted guilt to a charge of attempted compensation for adoption on Monday. Consequently, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a charge of endangering the welfare of a minor.

Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren accepted the plea agreement, sentencing Urban to three years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections, with an additional three-year sentence suspended.

In contrast, the baby’s mother received a less severe sentence.

Shalene Ehlers, aged 21, pleaded guilty to both charges—attempting to accept compensation and endangering the child’s welfare. However, the judge deferred her plea acceptance.

Instead, Ehlers will serve six years of state-supervised probation, a path that could leave her without a criminal record if she successfully completes the probation period without issues.

In Urban’s case, the punishment was heftier, possibly due to his prior legal trouble in the Natural State. In June 2023, Urban was charged with, and quickly pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by receiving stolen goods valued between $1,000 and $5,000. The boy’s father was placed on probation in the earlier case and subsequently violated probation when trying to sell the child.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the underlying incident occurred in September 2024.

On the day in question, a person used the phone in the manager’s office at the Beaver Lake Hide-A-Way Campground in Rogers to call the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and report that the parents “tried to give up the baby for a 6-pack of beer and then wanted $1,000 for the baby,” according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Rogers, a large and rapidly growing city, lies just a few miles east of the Oklahoma border — some 200 miles northwest of Little Rock — and, when still a small town, was the first site of a Walmart store.

But the commerce attempted at the campground that day was of a far more illicit and arguably petty nature.

There was also a contract to prove it.

“I Darien Urban and Shalene Ehlers are signing our rights over to Cody Nathaniel Martin of our baby boy [redacted] for $1,000 on 09/21/2024.” the document reads. “Disclaimer: After signing this there will be no changing yall two’s minds and to never contact again.”

Multiple witnesses in attendance corroborated the would-be adoption process, a deputy stated in the affidavit. The deputy also obtained cellphone video of Urban and Ehlers signing the contract with the man who would have been the purchaser of the child.

The impetus of the attempted sale was beer.

Ehlers allegedly approached another couple’s camper and asked them for beer, as she regularly does, according to the affidavit. When the couple declined, the mother left, but a man named Ricky Crawford offered beer in exchange for keeping the baby overnight.

Crawford, who investigators described as quite intoxicated during his interview, allegedly said he was concerned about the baby’s welfare and wanted to get him out of Urban’s and Ehlers’ hands overnight — which they agreed to, according to the affidavit.

“He asked if he could have the baby overnight and provided Urban and Ehlers with several cans of beer in exchange,” the affidavit reads. “Urban and Ehlers agreed and gave the baby along with a diaper bag to Crawford. He then brought the baby to Martin at another camper at the campground. Ehlers and Urban then came to the same camper and spoke to Martin and Crawford before signing the letter.”

Martin allegedly told law enforcement he was the person who drew up the contract; no money had yet changed hands, but he planned to bring the couple a $1,000 check days later.

“Based on the totality of the investigation, it is believed both Urban and Ehlers created a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury by abandoning their minor child initially with an obviously intoxicated male and ultimately with someone they did not know,” a detective wrote in the affidavit.

After being Mirandized, the couple was allegedly voluble and open about the plan to sell the little boy, according to law enforcement.

The charging document reads:

They reported Crawford had come to the camper and requested to take the baby for the night. They stated they agreed and gave the baby to Crawford. They stated they then discussed it and went to the camper where the baby was and spoke to Martin. They stated they offered to surrender the baby to Martin in exchange for $1,000 in cash. They stated Martin created an agreement that they videotaped to ensure it was legal and they planned to “legalize” it on Monday. They both stated they then left on the understanding the baby was given to Martin in exchange for $1,000 to be collected on Monday.

The campground owner eventually heard about the attempted transaction and called 911. The baby boy, who allegedly showed signs of neglect, was taken to a hospital.

Neither parent is allowed contact with their now-toddler son, according to the plea agreements and sentencing documents.