A Missouri woman is facing prison time after authorities said she tried to trade a child for a monkey in a disturbing abuse and neglect case.
Brenda Deutsch, 70, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Under a plea deal with prosecutors, two other charges were dropped.
Deutsch was originally charged in April 2025 with felony counts of neglect, child abuse and child endangerment. She was later indicted on two counts of abuse or neglect of a child and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said the case was not a one-time incident.
“It wasn’t isolated. It was a culture of abuse and neglect,” Wood said at the time.
The investigation began in November 2024 after the Missouri Department of Social Services received an anonymous tip alleging Deutsch was abusing a child, according to KMOV.
The initial allegations involved a girl who was eventually found in Texas, authorities said.
The child was interviewed by welfare agents the following month and said the alleged abuse had begun three years earlier, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said the abuse stretched from September 2022 through January 2025 and allegedly included the shocking attempt to trade the girl for a monkey.
According to law enforcement, the child said she had been hit in the face, causing injuries and bleeding. She also told investigators she had been struck with a paddle, smacked and subjected to other forms of abuse.
The girl also claimed she had seen other children being abused.
The case took an even stranger turn in February 2025, when the Winfield School District reported that the child had excessive absences. A school resource officer was later told about the missed classes.
As the school began looking into the situation, authorities learned the child had allegedly been sent to someone in Texas in exchange for a monkey.
At the same time, another witness told investigators the foster parent and the child were simply “not getting along.”
Lincoln County officials eventually contacted law enforcement in Texas and spoke with the girl, who said she was safe.
But Wood said the child had allegedly been left alone in Texas for long periods of time.
“The child had been left alone in Texas for extended periods of time,” Wood said. “One of those was a 10 day period where that particular person in Texas had left and gone to the state of New Mexico and left the child.”
Wood said both Deutsch and her friend owned exotic animals. Prosecutors alleged the friend had been asked to take the girl in exchange for the monkey.
When that friend left Texas to tend to animals in New Mexico, the girl was reportedly moved to another home.
“She was at a secondary home which was the adult children of witness one,” Wood said. “Both of those people are disabled and not able to take care of the child. From what we can tell the child was taking care of them.”
After the friend’s trip to New Mexico took longer than expected, the child was eventually turned over to Child Protective Services in Texas.
KMOV, citing anonymous sources, reported that Deutsch had served as a foster parent for decades and had custody of more than 200 children over the years.
The outlet also reported that more than 200 hotline calls had been made to report Deutsch for alleged child abuse.
Wood said officials were frustrated to learn the home had not previously appeared in local law enforcement records.
“Disappointed to learn that this particular home, despite the notoriety that it had gained, was not in our system,” Wood said. “We didn’t have any police reports. We didn’t have any requests for prosecution. We didn’t have anything.”
Deutsch now faces up to seven years in prison.
A case review is scheduled for July 21, court records show.
