LilMtnCbn
01-09-2004, 08:24 AM
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2779048a1860,00.html
Jolie's adoption agent charged
10 January 2004
SEATTLE: The woman who helped actress Angelina Jolie adopt her Cambodian baby
son has appeared in federal court in Seattle to face charges of being part of a
ring that paid destitute mothers $US100 each to give up their children.
Lauryn Galindo, of Kauai Island in Hawaii, and her sister Lynn Devin charged
adoptive parents as much as $10,500 to bring Cambodian children purported to be
orphans to the United States, according to an indictment handed down last year.
In many cases, the Cambodian children were given up by their parents in
exchange for payments of as little as $100, according to court documents.
Since the children were described as "abandoned" and in some cases were
misidentified, the government charged the two women with visa fraud.
Seattle resident Devin, who ran Seattle International Adoptions with Galindo,
pleaded guilty last month under a sealed plea agreement and is scheduled to be
sentenced in March.
Galindo, who was taken into custody this week, appeared in court yesterday and
was released on an appearance bond, Assistant US Attorney Jim Lord said.
In one instance, Galindo faxed Devin documents with a notation saying "Father
dead – mother very poor – Kampong Speu," referring to a four-year-old girl
who was with her birth mother in Cambodia, according to the indictment.
Devin and Galindo then directed the adoptive parents to pay $100 to the birth
mother and donate $3,500 to the Kampong Speu orphanage, while they claimed on
the girl's visa application the parents and relatives were unknown.
Prosecutors have said that the investigation will not change the status of
hundreds of children adopted through the Seattle adoption agency.
Jolie adopted her Cambodian-born son, Maddox, last year after meeting him in an
orphanage in November 2001.
Concerns over Cambodian adoptions led US immigration authorities to suspend
adoptions from the Southeast Asian country in December 2001.
-------------------------
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
Jolie's adoption agent charged
10 January 2004
SEATTLE: The woman who helped actress Angelina Jolie adopt her Cambodian baby
son has appeared in federal court in Seattle to face charges of being part of a
ring that paid destitute mothers $US100 each to give up their children.
Lauryn Galindo, of Kauai Island in Hawaii, and her sister Lynn Devin charged
adoptive parents as much as $10,500 to bring Cambodian children purported to be
orphans to the United States, according to an indictment handed down last year.
In many cases, the Cambodian children were given up by their parents in
exchange for payments of as little as $100, according to court documents.
Since the children were described as "abandoned" and in some cases were
misidentified, the government charged the two women with visa fraud.
Seattle resident Devin, who ran Seattle International Adoptions with Galindo,
pleaded guilty last month under a sealed plea agreement and is scheduled to be
sentenced in March.
Galindo, who was taken into custody this week, appeared in court yesterday and
was released on an appearance bond, Assistant US Attorney Jim Lord said.
In one instance, Galindo faxed Devin documents with a notation saying "Father
dead – mother very poor – Kampong Speu," referring to a four-year-old girl
who was with her birth mother in Cambodia, according to the indictment.
Devin and Galindo then directed the adoptive parents to pay $100 to the birth
mother and donate $3,500 to the Kampong Speu orphanage, while they claimed on
the girl's visa application the parents and relatives were unknown.
Prosecutors have said that the investigation will not change the status of
hundreds of children adopted through the Seattle adoption agency.
Jolie adopted her Cambodian-born son, Maddox, last year after meeting him in an
orphanage in November 2001.
Concerns over Cambodian adoptions led US immigration authorities to suspend
adoptions from the Southeast Asian country in December 2001.
-------------------------
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
