Police: Baby-selling online post a hoax

TAMPA, Fla., June 1 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida said an online posting purporting to offer an unwed mother's 18-month-old child for sale has been found to be a hoax.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman J.D. Callaway said the 19-year-old woman who authored the Craigslist.com posting visited a Sheriff's district office Sunday to assure authorities there was no actual baby for sale, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Monday.

Callaway said a photo the woman uploaded to accompany the posting was "not her real child." He said the Sheriff's Office is looking into whether any laws were violated and no charges have yet been filed in the case.

The spokesman said the woman, whose name was not released, has a young child but authorities said they do not believe there is any reason to be concerned for the child's safety.

"It was just a hoax," Callaway said. "She saw a bunch of items listed on Craigslist, and she thought she'd make a fake one as a joke."