LilMtnCbn
11-26-2004, 09:23 AM
http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article
&sid=41087&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Couple jailed in adoption con case
Justin Hill DAILY HERALD
A woman and her husband are in the Utah County Jail after she pretended to be
pregnant and obtained thousands of dollars in aid from a family and an adoption
agency.
Heather Calk Fritts, 32, pleaded guilty last week to felony counts of
communications fraud for telling a family in California and an adoption agency
in Orem that she was pregnant when, in fact, she was not.
She obtained between $1,000 and $5,000 each from the family and the adoption
agency.
Fritts is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 5.
Utah County prosecutors are reviewing the charges against her husband, Brian
Lee Fritts, 38. He is charged with felony communications fraud and also is
being held in the Utah County Jail.
"It's just awful because you are playing on the most tender emotions of
people," said Beth Beck, executive director of Children's Service Society,
which was not
involved in the incident.
According to an affidavit by Orem Police Detective Sgt. Keldon Brown, the
Frittses, who are from Stockton, Calif., went to Texas in June to work with an
adoption agency, putting their unborn twins up for adoption. The Frittses
received weeks of benefits, including housing, food and clothing, according to
the affidavit. The adoption agency wanted her to see a doctor, but she missed
three appointments and fled Texas, Brown said in an interview.
The couple came to Utah, where they contacted an adoption agency in Orem to put
their twins up for adoption when they were supposed to be born in November,
according to the affidavit. The couple received benefits such as housing, food,
clothing, plane tickets and travel vouchers, Brown says in the affidavit.
Heather Fritts missed three or four doctor appointments and ended the
relationship with the adoption agency, Brown said.
Heather Fritts then agreed to have the twins adopted by three different
families: two from Orem and the one from California, according to the
affidavit. The couple continued to receive financial benefits from all three
families, Brown says.
They received between $7,000 and $8,000 from prospective adoptive families,
promising twin boys, according to the affidavit.
The couple was arrested Oct. 8 on a warrant out of Texas.
Fritts told Brown that she had a miscarriage, but according to her own
timeline, that would have been between when she contacted the Orem adoption
agency and the families, the detective said. Her fetuses would have been more
than 8 months old, Brown said.
"I don't believe she ever had a miscarriage," Brown said, adding later, "She
never has been pregnant."
There is nothing to confirm the pregnancy, and according to the affidavit,
Fritts had not seen a physician for her pregnancy nor has she had an
ultrasound. Fritts is overweight and could appear to be pregnant, Brown said.
Executive directors for adoption agencies in Utah said they require proof of
pregnancy or that proof plus medical records. The Children's Service Society
also runs Social Security numbers.
It's a lot safer for families to go through adoption agencies because they are
able to provide a lot of the safeguards, said Pam Banta, executive director of
the adoption agency A Nurture Adopt Adoption Agency, based in Highland. Scams
similar to Heather Fritts's actions occur once or twice a year in Utah, she
said.
"It's more common than we would hope," Banta said. "It doesn't happen every
day."
Brown said the worst part about the alleged incidents is that the families
believed they were close to adopting a child, only to discover there wasn't
one.
"That's got to be devastating," he said.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
&sid=41087&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Couple jailed in adoption con case
Justin Hill DAILY HERALD
A woman and her husband are in the Utah County Jail after she pretended to be
pregnant and obtained thousands of dollars in aid from a family and an adoption
agency.
Heather Calk Fritts, 32, pleaded guilty last week to felony counts of
communications fraud for telling a family in California and an adoption agency
in Orem that she was pregnant when, in fact, she was not.
She obtained between $1,000 and $5,000 each from the family and the adoption
agency.
Fritts is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 5.
Utah County prosecutors are reviewing the charges against her husband, Brian
Lee Fritts, 38. He is charged with felony communications fraud and also is
being held in the Utah County Jail.
"It's just awful because you are playing on the most tender emotions of
people," said Beth Beck, executive director of Children's Service Society,
which was not
involved in the incident.
According to an affidavit by Orem Police Detective Sgt. Keldon Brown, the
Frittses, who are from Stockton, Calif., went to Texas in June to work with an
adoption agency, putting their unborn twins up for adoption. The Frittses
received weeks of benefits, including housing, food and clothing, according to
the affidavit. The adoption agency wanted her to see a doctor, but she missed
three appointments and fled Texas, Brown said in an interview.
The couple came to Utah, where they contacted an adoption agency in Orem to put
their twins up for adoption when they were supposed to be born in November,
according to the affidavit. The couple received benefits such as housing, food,
clothing, plane tickets and travel vouchers, Brown says in the affidavit.
Heather Fritts missed three or four doctor appointments and ended the
relationship with the adoption agency, Brown said.
Heather Fritts then agreed to have the twins adopted by three different
families: two from Orem and the one from California, according to the
affidavit. The couple continued to receive financial benefits from all three
families, Brown says.
They received between $7,000 and $8,000 from prospective adoptive families,
promising twin boys, according to the affidavit.
The couple was arrested Oct. 8 on a warrant out of Texas.
Fritts told Brown that she had a miscarriage, but according to her own
timeline, that would have been between when she contacted the Orem adoption
agency and the families, the detective said. Her fetuses would have been more
than 8 months old, Brown said.
"I don't believe she ever had a miscarriage," Brown said, adding later, "She
never has been pregnant."
There is nothing to confirm the pregnancy, and according to the affidavit,
Fritts had not seen a physician for her pregnancy nor has she had an
ultrasound. Fritts is overweight and could appear to be pregnant, Brown said.
Executive directors for adoption agencies in Utah said they require proof of
pregnancy or that proof plus medical records. The Children's Service Society
also runs Social Security numbers.
It's a lot safer for families to go through adoption agencies because they are
able to provide a lot of the safeguards, said Pam Banta, executive director of
the adoption agency A Nurture Adopt Adoption Agency, based in Highland. Scams
similar to Heather Fritts's actions occur once or twice a year in Utah, she
said.
"It's more common than we would hope," Banta said. "It doesn't happen every
day."
Brown said the worst part about the alleged incidents is that the families
believed they were close to adopting a child, only to discover there wasn't
one.
"That's got to be devastating," he said.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
