I always can top myself..

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For just f-ed up stories....

This is the top one so far....

Woman given probation for attempting to sell child / QCTimes.com

The woman who attempted to sell one of her children to pay a debt on a wedding dress was sentenced to five years probation this morning.

Marcy Gant will have to follow several special provisions, including bans on alcohol consumption and contacting the prosecution’s main witness in the case. Gant also will have to submit to random tests for drugs and alcohol, follow the advice of mental health professionals and attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week, Scott County District Judge James Kelley ruled.

If she fails to follow the rules, she faces going to prison for up to 10 years. Kelley declined to enter a deferred judgment, which would have removed the conviction from her record if she successfully completed probation.

Julie Walton, prosecutor, requested prison time.

“I do not feel confident she can survive on probation,” Walton said before sentencing, citing “out-of-control behavior” fueled by alcoholism.

Lauren Phelps, Gant’s attorney, requested probation.

“She’s making better choices,” Phelps said, saying she is keeping in touch with her children and maintaining a stable residence. “She’s doing things she needs to do.”

In September 2006, Gant purchased some items from a street retailer who had set up at the southwest corner of West Kimberly Road and Division Street.

During the negotiations for payment for a wedding dress and other wedding items, Gant offered her 4-year-old son as collateral, according to police. Gant's sons, ages 4 and 10 at the time, had been removed from the home by Iowa Department of Human Services.