Brenda Deutsch, 70, avoided prison after a Missouri judge suspended her seven-year child-endangerment sentence and placed her on three years of probation.
Judge Thomas Frawley called Deutsch “reprehensible,” revoked her foster-care license from the bench, and apologized to the victims, saying Missouri’s foster system had failed them.
The case centered on allegations that Deutsch sent a 17-year-old foster girl to Texas, told a friend she could keep the child while Deutsch kept the check, and traded her for a monkey.
Court documents also alleged repeated abuse — including beatings with objects, threats to kill the girl, and leaving her in an unsanitary Texas home with exotic animals before child protective services took custody.
Deutsch, arrested in April and charged with three felonies, had fostered more than 200 children; her daughter said the sentence was disappointing but the judge’s criticism validated the victims.