The mother accused of selling her son to settle a drug debt appeared in court today to respond to a lawsuit that calls for the termination of parental rights.
Esmeralda Garza appeared in Judge Timothy McCoy’s courtroom and requested a full adversary hearing related to the custody of the children.
Garza has three children, two daughters and a son. Fathers of the children were also in court.
The father of the boy who was allegedly sold, Roland Olivarez, is currently jailed on an unrelated charge. He told the judge he has not received any information related to the case.
"I’m lost. I’m new to this case," Olivarez told the judge. "I don’t even know what’s going on, sir."
The father of Garza’s two daughters, Ricardo Gomez, who has not been criminally charged in the case and does not play a role in the alleged selling of the child, was in court to try and get custody of his children.
"All I want is my daughters," Gomez told the judge. "They’ve (CPS) gone and looked at my house, I took a hair follicle this week, they approved the house I am at right now and everything."
Gomez told the judge he had a violation of probation case against him when he learned of Garza allegedly selling her other child. He said he immediately turned himself in so that he could start the process of getting custody of his daughters and has taken care of all charges.
Judge McCoy assigned Garza and both fathers with court appointed attorneys.
"It’s a complicated case and I would suggest you spend some time with your lawyers and make sure this case is done right," Judge McCoy told all parties.
The attorney for the children asked the judge that all records be sealed in this case due to a potential large amount of sensitive information that will be revealed. The defense did not argue with this. Judge McCoy said that though records are usually sealed in these types of cases and the motion was carried to the next hearing.
The full adversary hearing requested by Garza will be scheduled to take place within the next couple of weeks, Judge McCoy said.
