ST. PAUL, Minn., June 6 (UPI) -- A Minnesota woman has been sentenced to six months in jail for allowing her developmentally disabled teenage daughter to be prostituted.
Cheryl Ann Tchida, 51, of Woodbury, was sentenced Wednesday and ordered to surrender at the Ramsey County Workhouse in two weeks, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported. She wept as she denied any intent to hurt her daughter.
"I would never intentionally put my daughter in harm's way," Tchida said.
Her daughter, now 19, has the intellectual capacity of a 5- or 6-year-old, prosecutors said. Investigators say Tchida left her daughter at a hotel in Roseville last year to spend time with a 17-year-old boy.
The teenager's uncle advertised the daughter's sexual services online. She told police she was forced to have sex with several men.
Investigators said when one man later sent a text saying he wanted to see the girl again, Tchida drove her to his apartment and left her there.
The daughter is now living in a group home, and prosecutors said she gets upset when she hears her mother's name.
