A woman's seemingly harmless joke about her young son on Twitter became no laughing matter after it brought authorities to her home.
Last month, Mississippi-based journalist Alex McDaniel tweeted that her 3-year-old son was "for sale."
3yo for sale
$12 OBO
— Alex McDaniel (@AlexMcDaniel) September 22, 2017
McDaniel said the tweet was meant as a joke, but someone contacted a child abuse hotline to report it.
In a post on Magnolia State Live, McDaniel said Child Protection Services officials and a sheriff's deputy questioned her. She wrote: "They told me an anonymous male tipster called Mississippi’s child abuse hotline days earlier to report me for attempting to sell my 3-year-old son, citing a history of mental illness that probably drove me to do it."
McDaniel said she thinks someone was targeting her.
