http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm1868_20041217.htm

Michigan woman held in California in adoption scam

Friday, December 17, 2004

ASSOCIATED PRESS

YUBA CITY, Calif. -- A Michigan woman pleaded not guilty to charges that she
bilked a Yuba City couple of $9,000 in an alleged adoption scam.

Heather Lee Burgess, who is due to give birth in January, may have defrauded 15
couples across the country, according to a Brighton, Mich., police detective
who launched the investigation.

Burgess, who also goes by the name Heather Gaston, was charged with one count
of grand theft. She remained in jail on $15,000 bail.

The Yuba City couple were put in contact with Burgess, 25, through their
attorney and an adoption facilitator in Tempe, Ariz., Sutter County Sheriff Jim
Denney said.

The couple signed a contract with Burgess in August, then opened a trust
account for her and began paying her medical and living expenses and some of
her debts, he said.

In October, the couple flew Burgess to Tempe and rented an apartment for her,
apparently so she would be closer to the facilitator. They visited her there to
confirm she was pregnant, Denney said. By the end of the month, Burgess had
moved out of the apartment and later was found living in a Long Beach hotel
under an alias, authorities said.

Brighton police Detective Brad Patton said Burgess accepted money while living
there from couples in Texas and Indiana. A third case is pending, and there may
be as many as 15, he said.



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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