An Ohio woman pleaded guilty to charges related to her role in a fraudulent adoption scheme, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
According to the original indictment, Margaret Cole, a 74-year-old woman, ran an international adoption agency based in Strongsville, Ohio.
She and another woman, Debra Parris, organized a scheme to mislead authorities when conducting an adoption of children from Poland.
The clients of the original transaction informed Cole that they were not fit to care for one of the two children that were scheduled to be adopted. After learning the information, Cole took steps to transfer the child into the custody of relatives of Parris. However, the relatives were not eligible for intercountry adoption.
According to the DOJ, the duo then lied to authorities, and the child was harmed while living with relatives:
“Cole, Parris and others agreed to defraud U.S. authorities to conceal their improper transfer of the Polish child. Following the adoption, the child was injured and hospitalized while living with Parris’s relatives. Thereafter, Cole made a false statement to the Polish authority responsible for intercountry adoptions about the transfer of the child that, among other things, concealed the role of Cole and others in arranging the transfer of the child to Parris’s relatives,” the release detailed.
Cole pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and making a false statement to a Polish authority. Parris has also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and commit visa fraud, in connection with a separate scheme to bribe Ugandan officials.
A federal district court judge will sentence Cole later this year on May 27th.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
