Mexico/Child trafficking ring.

16 people wanted in connection to child trafficking ring

Written By Michel Marizco

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VLADIMIR ARZATE

 

JOSE MANUEL HERNANDEZ

State police in the Mexican State of Sonora have filed arrest warrants for 16 people wanted in connection with a child trafficking ring.
Prosecutors allege that children were sold in an adoption scam that went on for three years. The children were put up for adoption, but never registered with the state agency charged with caring for them.
The accused ringleader of the group was Vladimir Arzate. He is a state employee who controls the state’s amber alert system and was an assistant director of the state’s child and family welfare agency.
Also accused is Jose Manuel Hernandez, the lawyer for a major Sonoran cattlemen’s lobbying group.
The two men allegedly purchased birth certificates and fingerprints of children born at a state-run hospital, from a doctor working in the hospital. The children were then sold to people seeking children to adopt.
At least nine children were found in the trafficking ring. The Sonoran Attorney General’s Office is still searching for all the biological mothers.

UPDATE!!! Samantha Keegan, Cormac Keegan Tampa FL area

Ugh, seems there is a new baby in their household and because I know for a fact that Halaina, aka Samantha, did not give birth to this baby, it means that there is a mommy out there who is suffering.

To the Mommy: Hope you do not decide to suffer alone! Please know that there are others who understand everything you are going through.  They too were intimidated, bullied, left to feel powerless,  carried fear for various reasons, and told  they did something illegal.  If you want to talk,,,it doesn't have to be with me,,,I can set that up with someone who can give you facts and the truth. (legal advice at no cost to you) All you need to do is email me at adoptionscams@gmail.com and I will point you in the right direction.

Geesh! Rev Gerardo Joannon/Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNN) —A priest at the center of an illegal baby adoption scam in Chile has been moved out of the country and faces no charges, even after admitting he participated in at least two illegal adoptions.

The Rev. Gerardo Joannon, who belongs to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts order, has been relocated to a house for priests in the city of Merlo, Argentina.

The transfer is supposed to be "an act of religious obedience" and a time to pray and serve penance, according to a statement issued by the order. The statement does not give a reason for his penance.

Joannon, who is in his late 70s, publicly admitted last year that he had facilitated illegal adoptions during the 1970s and '80s.

According to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts order and Chilean authorities, the priest took at least two babies from their biological mothers, either through lies or coercion, and in secret gave them to adoptive families.

Mario Carroza, a prosecutor who investigated the case, said upper-class families would approach Joannon after learning an unmarried daughter was pregnant. He said the priest would then conspire with doctors, nurses, nuns and others to deliver the baby, which would then be raised by the adoptive parents.

"We're talking about crimes like kidnapping, of course, because the baby was taken from the mother without her consent or knowledge; falsification of identity, because the baby was made to appear as a biological child of a different couple, and falsification of documents," Carroza said.

Carroza, though, has ruled the statute of limitations has run out, and that the priest could no longer be prosecuted, angering those still looking for biological parents and children.

The ruling has also puzzled many Chileans who are also questioning the decision to send the priest to Argentina.

CNN tried to get a more elaborate answer from the order, but an interview request was declined. At the house where the priest used to live, another priest hung up the intercom after being asked about Joannon.

The leader of the order, the Rev. Alex Vigueras, was also not answering questions when he arrived at his home. He said "we're not giving any interviews" and quickly drove in and closed the gate.

The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts order conducted an internal investigation last year into the allegations and sent its findings to the Vatican. The Holy See later determined that even though the priest had made ethical and moral mistakes, none of his actions had risen to the level of a violation of canon law.

Carroza, the prosecutor who handled the case, said the investigation is still open and, as more cases surface, he is hoping there will be a case he can prosecute.

Joannon's attorney, Eduardo Novoa, said the crimes his client is accused of were not even on the books until 1988.

"My client, as priest, knew families and would approach them with the intention of giving them support and guidance when unexpected pregnancies occurred," he said.

"In some cases, the grandparents or parents of a young, pregnant woman considered the pregnancy unacceptable and would seek to give the baby away so that another family would raise him as their child."

Chilean authorities said Joannon is only one of many priests, nuns, doctors, nurses and others who conspired to carry out illegal adoptions during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990.

The number of stolen children, officials interviewed by CNN said, could be in the thousands. In Chile, they're known as the "Children of Silence."

Samantha Keegan/Tampa area/surrogate/surrogacy

Samantha Keegan aka Halaina Walsh or who ever you are calling yourself lately.  I have heard from someone who has dealings with you. WHAT THE HECK?????  Have you lost your mind??  Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.

I constantly pray that some how, the little girl in your care, can come out of this ok.  From the info I have received in the past, I highly doubt it.  One day she will know the truth.  Hope it will help her heal.

Sans Pareil Center/Simone Swenson

U.S. Attorneys » Southern District of Texas » News

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of Texas

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, July 31, 2015

Houston Woman Arrested for Adoption Fraud

HOUSTON – The owner of a child placement agency in Houston has been charged and arrested in a four-count indictment alleging an adoption fraud scheme, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Simone Swenson, 40, of Houston, owned and operated Sans Pareil Center for Children and Family Services LLC, which was licensed to operate as both a foster care and child placement agency.

The indictment was returned under seal July 29, 2015, and unsealed today upon her arrest. She is expected to make her initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge at 10:00 a.m. Monday, Aug. 3, 2015.

Sans Pareil catered to adoptive families that desired to participate in domestic private (non-CPS) adoption program. According to the allegations in the indictment, from on or about January 2013 to on or about January 2014, Swenson defrauded numerous prospective adoptive families with the same birth mother, a scheme known as double matching. As part of the scheme, she allegedly obtained money and property by means or materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.

The indictment alleges Swenson double matched birth mothers who expected to have only one baby to multiple adoptive families. Once money was wired and/or mailed into her account from those families, the charges allege that she would find a way, through lies and misrepresentations, to get out of the agreements.

According to the allegations, Swenson would contact prospective families about birth mothers but would not proceed until agency fees and expenses were paid up front. Swenson would allegedly make promises for a successful adoption. In reliance upon those representations, the indictment alleges prospective adoptive families hired attorneys and other adoption agencies, purchased airline tickets, booked hotel rooms, prepared and purchased items for the expected child’s nursery and transportation and incurred other expenses related to the prospective adoption.

The indictment alleges Swenson would and did charge fees without explanation, and the fees did not apply equally to all adoptive families as required by regulations.

According to the indictment, Swenson was always available and responsive to prospective adoptive families prior to receiving agency fees. However, once she received monies from adoptive families, she would become unavailable and would not return phone calls for long periods of time, if at all, according to the indictment. When she did have contact with the adoptive families, she would allegedly be brief, inconsiderate and provide vague information regarding the birth mothers and their delivery status.

In addition, Swenson rarely provided invoices or receipts to the adoptive families for their paid fees and expenses, according to the allegations. When adoptive families would ask Swenson for proof of payment, Swenson allegedly did not respond unless there was money to be collected from them.

According to the indictment, Swenson illegally collected $111,000 as part of the scheme.

In August 2012, Sans Pareil’s foster care license was revoked after regulators discovered money intended for foster families was used to pay mortgage payments and for visits to the nail salon.

Swenson is charged with two counts of mail fraud and two counts of mail fraud, each of which carries a possible 20-year prison term as well as a $250,00 maximum fine, upon conviction.

The investigation leading to the arrest was conducted by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari is prosecuting this case.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

http://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/houston-woman-arrested-adoption-fraud