Foster Mother Accused of Trading Child for a Monkey Avoids Prison
A Missouri foster parent whose case drew national attention after rumors suggested she traded a foster child for a monkey has avoided prison time after a judge suspended her sentence.
Lincoln County Judge Thomas Frawley sentenced Brenda Deutsch to seven years in prison but suspended the term, ordering her instead to three years of state-supervised probation and counseling, according to the Lincoln County Journal and FOX 2. Frawley also revoked Deutsch’s foster-parent license and, according to the local reports, called her conduct “reprehensible” while apologizing to people who had testified about alleged abuse.
Deutsch pleaded guilty in June to one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed two counts of abuse or neglect of a child, according to online court records. The guilty plea centered on her decision to send the foster girl to a home in Texas where, court documents said, the child was left unattended in unsanitary conditions and without adequate supervision. Texas Child Protective Services eventually intervened and removed the girl from that residence.
The case had become complicated by a separate set of claims. An anonymous complaint in November 2024 accused Deutsch of physically and mentally abusing the girl. During a forensic interview the next month, the girl said Deutsch had hit her with shoes, wood trim, and a paddle, sometimes gave her too little food, and at times donated her clothes to Goodwill, according to a probable cause statement.
In February 2025, a school resource officer looking into the girl’s absence learned she was in Texas. That inquiry also produced a rumor that the girl had been traded for an exotic animal. A Texas woman caring for the girl said she initially agreed to help because Deutsch and the girl were not getting along, according to the probable cause statement. The woman later said she no longer wanted to care for the girl, and Deutsch at first refused to pay for the girl’s return flight. Deutsch told investigators she eventually bought a ticket, but the woman was unable to get the girl to the airport, so the ticket went unused.
The woman left the girl with another person while she traveled out of town. That person took the girl to the Eastland County Sheriff’s Office in Texas on Feb. 21, and Texas CPS assumed custody. The girl later told investigators that the Texas woman had left her alone at the residence for days at a time and that she cared for exotic animals while there.
At sentencing, Frawley stressed that Deutsch’s conviction did not include the monkey-trade allegation or broader abuse claims that had circulated publicly. “She did not abuse anyone, engage in patterns of abusive behaviors, trade a child for a monkey, or anything else that has been said,” he said, according to the Lincoln County Journal.
Deutsch’s biological daughter, Brina Johnson, and a former foster child both spoke at the hearing about alleged abuse. Johnson said she had shown investigators a conversation about the alleged trade and a photograph of her mother with a monkey; she said Deutsch kept at least seven monkeys. The foster girl at the center of the case also attended the hearing, Johnson told FOX 2.
Afterward, Johnson said she was disappointed by the outcome. “I’m kinda lost for words because this is not the end we wished for,” she said.
Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood told the court that his office had received numerous allegations against Deutsch but that most involved conduct too old to charge under Missouri’s statute of limitations.
Deutsch’s attorney, Joseph Flees, argued in a sentencing filing that intense media attention and public criticism had unfairly damaged her reputation and that she was not the person portrayed in coverage.
Deutsch still faces separate charges: three counts of forgery and one count of stealing. A Missouri Department of Social Services investigator alleged in a probable cause statement that Deutsch collected $962.50 from the state by submitting false invoices for respite-care services that were not provided.
The girl’s guardian has shared a GoFundMe campaign to help her buy a reliable car so she can travel to school and work as she moves forward.