'Baby-selling ring' lawyer guilty
Source: Agencies |
August 11, 2011, Thursday
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A CALIFORNIA lawyer who specializes in reproductive law pleaded guilty on Tuesday for her role in what US federal prosecutors called a "baby-selling ring" that charged a dozen couples more than US$100,000 to adopt babies born from surrogate pregnancies.
Theresa Erickson, 43, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud before US Magistrate Judge William McCurine.
According to her plea agreement, Erickson along with a Maryland-based lawyer who also specializes in reproductive law and a Las Vegas woman, recruited women to travel to the Ukraine to be implanted with embryos created from the sperm and egg of donors.
Once a gestational carrier, or surrogate, reached the second trimester of pregnancy, prosecutors claimed the defendants would "shop" the babies by falsely telling couples that a couple who had intended to adopt the baby backed out of the deal.
The couple that agreed to adopt the baby had to pay more than US$100,000 in fees. Women who agreed to carry the babies to term were paid from US$38,000 to US$45,000, court documents said.
While most of the surrogates and adoptive parents lived outside of California, prosecutors said the defendants broke state law by falsely declaring with the San Diego Superior Court that the unborn baby was part of an agreement made between the surrogate and the couple before pregnancy.
The law is designed to prevent the sale of parental rights to children, but by falsely declaring the unborn baby was the result of a legitimate surrogacy arrangement they obtained pre-birth judgments that named the adoptive parents on the babies' birth certificates.
Erickson faces up to five years in prison. Her sentencing is on October 28.
Theresa Erickson, 43, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud before US Magistrate Judge William McCurine.
According to her plea agreement, Erickson along with a Maryland-based lawyer who also specializes in reproductive law and a Las Vegas woman, recruited women to travel to the Ukraine to be implanted with embryos created from the sperm and egg of donors.
Once a gestational carrier, or surrogate, reached the second trimester of pregnancy, prosecutors claimed the defendants would "shop" the babies by falsely telling couples that a couple who had intended to adopt the baby backed out of the deal.
The couple that agreed to adopt the baby had to pay more than US$100,000 in fees. Women who agreed to carry the babies to term were paid from US$38,000 to US$45,000, court documents said.
While most of the surrogates and adoptive parents lived outside of California, prosecutors said the defendants broke state law by falsely declaring with the San Diego Superior Court that the unborn baby was part of an agreement made between the surrogate and the couple before pregnancy.
The law is designed to prevent the sale of parental rights to children, but by falsely declaring the unborn baby was the result of a legitimate surrogacy arrangement they obtained pre-birth judgments that named the adoptive parents on the babies' birth certificates.
Erickson faces up to five years in prison. Her sentencing is on October 28.
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