In a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge David Sam, the four, Karen Banks, Scott Banks, Coleen Bartlett and Karalee Thornock, entered the pleas in return for prosecutors’ agreement to seek just five-year probation terms for them when they are sentenced on Feb. 25.
The fifth defendant, Dan Wakefield, was scheduled to enter his plea yesterday,
Under terms of their plea bargain, the Banks agreed to hold a future news conference to inform the public about the importance of doing adoptions correctly, and detail the potential penalties for not doing so. Their statements at that conference will be approved beforehand by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Banks also agreed to set up a trust fund to facilitate communication between birth and adoptive parents. Sam ordered the fund to be monitored by a trustee.
The U.S. government so far has been unable to extradite the other two defendants, Samoan citizens Tagaloa Ieti and Julie Tuiletufuga.
A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City issued a 135-count indictment in February 2007 charging the defendants with conspiracy, fraud and immigration violations. The charges — which target 37 of 81 Samoan adoptions by Focus on Children between 2002 and mid-2005 — stemmed from a federal investigation triggered by suspicious immigration officials.
The court heard that Focus on Children workers falsely told Samoan parents that children they placed for adoption would return to them. In the United States, prospective adoptive parents allegedly were told that the youngsters were orphans or abandoned by families who could not care for them, claims that were false.
U.S. immigration laws require adopted children to be orphans, defined as abandoned by both parents or left with one parent who cannot provide care.
Prosecutors allege some parents took children to a Focus on Children “nanny house,” but they often visited and took the youngsters home for extended stays. They say other children were cared for at home even after adoption paperwork was done.
Recruiters exploited the faith of the Samoan parents — many of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and their dreams for a better life for their children, according to prosecutors.
These recruiters allegedly sold adoption as a ‘program’ that would send youngsters to live with an American Mormon family and get a good education before returning home at 18. The Samoan parents claim they also were promised money, regular letters and photos from the U.S. families.
An LDS church spokesman has said the church has never had any affiliation with the Focus on Children adoption program.
Lawyers for the Bankses, who operated Focus on Children, had said four of Samoa’s most prestigious attorneys had given sworn affidavits describing how Samoan birth parents were repeatedly told they were giving up legal rights to their children and should not expect to see them again.
Focus on Children ceased operations in Utah in the summer of 2007.
