A Pueblo man who police say bought a 5-month-old boy from an illegal immigrant for $1,500 said it was all a big misunderstanding.

Jose-Juan Lerma told 9News that he acted with good intentions to help Nicole Uribe, an unemployed mother from Mexico, and her baby.

Pueblo police say Lerma, 48, and his wife, Irene Lerma, 28, paid Uribe for her baby. Then Uribe, 23, allegedly used $500 of the money for a down payment on a Dodge Intrepid.

The Lermas were taken into custody Tuesday on charges of child trafficking, a felony. Irene Lerma, also a suspected illegal immigrant, and Uribe remain in custody at Pueblo County Jail on immigration holds.

According to a court affidavit, Uribe and her boyfriend, Justin Hines, moved in with the Lermas about a week ago after they were kicked out of an apartment rented by Hines' sister, Deanna Ramirez.

Ramirez told police she asked the couple to leave because of Hines' alleged drug use.

"I was just helping them," Jose-Juan Lerma said in the television interview. "I feel bad when your own family throws you out of the home."

Lerma said he took Uribe and Hines in, and gave them $1,500 to help them out because they were struggling financially.

Pueblo police say they were contacted by Ramirez and Justin Hines' mother, Jody Charter, who told them that Uribe was trying to give away her son, Jason Hines.

Charter told police Uribe even asked her if she would take him.

According to the affidavit, Ramirez was told by a friend that Uribe's original asking price for her son was $10,000.

Police contacted Uribe and the Lermas at St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo, where Hines was recovering from a suspected cocaine overdose, according to the affidavit.

Lerma said Uribe offered to let him and his wife adopt her baby. He agreed, and took them to Angelus Chapel Funeral Home in Pueblo, where they had the adoption agreement notarized.

But funeral home director Charles McCulley denied knowledge of the affidavit, or meeting with the Lermas and Uribe.

"I don't know them. I would have no dealing with them," he said.

Uribe's child was taken by social services and has been placed in a foster home.

A former neighbor of Uribe, who asked not to be identified, said she was surprised by the allegations against her.

"She was really loving toward the baby," the neighbor said. "She didn't seem like the kind of woman who would sell her son."

quinterof@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5250