Skip to main content

Woman arrested after trying to sell her kids on Facebook

Facebook Login Close-up
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Covered in detail by Oklahoma’s News 9 station, a 22-year-old woman named Misty VanHorn was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly attempting to sell both of her children on the Internet. Using Facebook messaging as her communication medium, VanHorn first attempted to sell her two-year-old child for a price tag of $1,000. However, she upped the price to $4,000 after including her 10-month-old child as a package deal. According to Oklahoma investigators, she offered this price to an unnamed woman living in Fort Smith, Arkansas through a standard Facebook message.

misty vanhorn facebook kidsSpecifically, VanHorn wrote “Just come to Sallisaw. It’s only 30 minutes away and I give you all her stuff and let y’all have her forever for $1,000. But I have to have it before next week.” VanHorn was referring to her hometown of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, a city close to the Arkansas state line. 

VanHorn claimed to have needed a quick influx of $1,000 in order to bail her boyfriend out of jail. After the Facebook message was sent, an acquaintance of VanHorn notified the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and VanHorn was quickly arrested.

When asked about VanHorn’s attempt to sell her own children, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics spokesman Mark Woodward stated “It’s very disturbing to hear of a case like this, and certainly very tragic that somebody would treat their own children like a commodity.” When asked about this type of crime, Woodward continued “A lot of the deals, interaction, conversations will take place on social network sites where people can basically hide behind a computer screen, and they can hide their identity.”

At the moment, VanHorn is being held at the Sequoyah County Jail on a significantly higher bond than her current boyfriend. Facing a complaint of trafficking minors, VanHorn will have to come up with $40,000 in order to get out of jail prior to her trial. Both children are now in the custody of the state of Oklahoma and the case is in the hands of the district attorney. 

Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more