PUEBLO - The woman who told police that her brother's girlfriend sold her baby for $1,500 retracted her story Thursday, saying she didn't know who turned the young mom in.

According to the court affidavit, Deanna Ramirez and her mother, Jody Charter, led police to Nicole Uribe, an illegal immigrant who is being held at Pueblo County Jail on child trafficking charges.

Pueblo police say Uribe sold her 5-month-old baby to Jose- Juan Lerma, 48, and his wife, Irene Lerma, 28, for $1,500. Then Uribe, 23, allegedly used $500 of the money for a down payment on a Dodge Intrepid.

The Lermas were arrested Tuesday. Irene Lerma, also a suspected illegal immigrant, remains in custody along with Uribe on immigration holds.

Police say Uribe, 23, and her boyfriend, Justin Hines, 24, moved in with the Lermas about a week ago after they were kicked out of a trailer owned by Deanna Ramirez and her husband, Julio Ramirez.

But the Ramirezes said Uribe and Hines moved out on their own after staying with them for about two weeks.

"They didn't tell us why they left," said Julio Ramirez. "They just packed up their stuff and left."

Police said Deanna Ramirez told them she asked the couple to leave because of Hines' drug use. But she also denied that.

On Wednesday, Jose-Juan Lerma told 9News that neither he nor his wife tried to purchase Uribe's baby, but simply acted with good intentions to help Uribe because she was thrown out of the trailer.

"I feel bad when your own family throws you out of the home," he said.

Julio Ramirez said Uribe and Hines moved in with them at their trailer after they left New York, where the couple had been trying to find work. He said Uribe had family there.

He said the couple met in Grand Junction about a year ago. Uribe got pregnant by a boyfriend, but left him and got together with Hines. Although he is not the biological father, Jason Hines was listed as the baby's father on his birth certificate.

Lerma told police he took Uribe and Hines in, and gave them $1,500 because they were struggling financially.

Lerma, who has four children of his own, was not at his home on the outskirts of Pueblo on Thursday.

A man who identified himself as Lerma's nephew maintained his uncle's innocence. "Those who know him know the kind of man he is. Everyone else we don't care about," he said.

Lerma told police Uribe offered to let him and his wife adopt her baby. He agreed, and took them to a funeral home where they had an adoption agree-ment notarized.

Juanita Gutierrez, who was listed in the court affidavit as an informant who told police about the alleged baby-buying transaction, refused to talk about her involvement when contacted by the Rocky Mountain News.

Police found Uribe and the Lermas Tuesday evening at St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo where Hines was recovering from a cocaine overdose, said Deanna Ramirez and her stepfather, Robert Charter.

He declined to talk about the allegations against Uribe and Hines. "Our main concern is our son," said Robert Charter. "He almost died (from the overdose) and this whole mess has only made it worse."

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

quinterof@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5250