A 24-year-old Westbrook woman was indicted by a Cumberland County grand jury Friday on a charge of Class C theft, after an investigation into an adoption scam.
Misty Sargent and another 27-year-old woman with Westbrook ties scammed more than $50,000 from couples who believed they would be adopting the women’s babies, according to police.
The other woman’s name is not yet being released because her case is still under investigation by the Westbrook and Biddeford police departments, authorities said.
According to documents filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, Sargent was convicted on charges of theft twice in 2006 and on a charge of forgery in 2007. The felony charge she now faces is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Sargent is scheduled to be arraigned in Cumberland County Superior Court on July 28.
Court documents named John Conger, Kevin Kelly and American Adoptions, a nonprofit agency based in Kansas, as the victims of the scam, which occurred between November 2008 and May 2009.
In an interview in June, Conger said he and his wife, who live in California, spent more than $8,000 during a three-month period supporting Sargent, whose baby they believed they were going to adopt. At the end of May, they found out the baby was born and had been adopted by another couple.
Conger said he believed Sargent intended to give the baby to that couple from the start, but that Maine laws prevented her from collecting money from them until the last two months of her pregnancy. However, in California, adoptive couples are allowed to support the mother throughout the nine months.
According to Betsy Bewsey, director of adoption programs and services for MAPS Worldwide, an adoption and social services agency in Portland, more often than not, adoptive parents provide financial support to birth mothers. However, she said, the agency works hard to verify what financial support is warranted and makes sure the money goes directly toward the need, whether it’s a rent check paid to the landlord or gift cards to the supermarket or Wal-Mart for clothes.
Conger said he started becoming suspicious of Sargent when her demands for money became more urgent, but he and his wife continued working with her anyway. Then, she sent them an e-mail at the beginning of May saying she decided to keep the child. Suspecting he had been scammed, Conger contacted the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.
“It isn’t illegal under Maine law to take money from adoptive couples and not give them the baby,” said Westbrook Police Chief Bill Baker, “but you can’t take money from several people at the same time for the same expenses, and you can’t take money for legitimate expenses and spend the money on other things.”
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