Overview
- Benton County court records show the pair entered separate plea deals on Dec. 22, finalizing their sentences.
- Darien Urban pleaded guilty to attempted accepting compensation for adoption and received three years in state prison plus a three-year suspended term.
- Shalene Ehlers pleaded guilty to attempting to accept compensation and endangering the welfare of a minor and was placed on six years of state-supervised probation with charges suspended by Judge Brad Karren.
- The couple had signed a handwritten agreement transferring their two-month-old to a man identified as Cody Martin for $1,000, with the document dated Sept. 21, 2024.
- A witness at Beaver Lake Hide-A-Way Campground used the manager’s office phone to alert authorities, leading to the arrests; the parents are barred from contacting the child, who is reportedly in an adoptive home.