13 WTHRWoman accused of adoption fraud

Woman accused of adoption fraud

Chris Proffitt/Eyewitness News

Marion County - An Indianapolis woman is charged with running an adoption scam that defrauded adoption agencies and would-be parents. This latest case is strikingly similar to another one in central Indiana.

On Wednesday, prosecutors formally charged 27-year-old Christina White with theft and adoption deception. Prosecutors say that the Indianapolis woman was at the center of an adoption fraud scheme.

According to court records, White knowingly placed the same unborn baby up for adoption with multiple couples and adoption agencies, including Bethany Christian Services, pocketing the money she was given in return for housing and medical expenses as part of the adoption agreement.

"This was like having another miscarriage because the rooms were already decorated and nurseries to welcome the babies home and that never happened," said Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.

This latest case comes after the February arrest of 28-year-old Amber Jackson of Indianapolis, also charged with several counts of adoption deception. Jackson is accused of taking $6,000 from several agencies and couples hoping to adopt the twins Jackson said she was carrying. Prosecutors say it was a scam.

"I'm extremely sorry and it was the most stupidest thing [sic] I could probably ever do in my life and I have probably messed up my life for who knows how many years," said Jackson.

Two of Jackson's alleged victims, Clayton and Kay Younggreen of LaPorte, tried for years to have children. Jackson found them on an adoption website.

"You shouldn't do terrible things like that to, you know, very vunerable women and use the shield of an unborn child to try to better yourself financially," said Clayton Younggreen.

Detectives say they were two similar crimes designed to profit from hopes and emotions of childless couples hoping to adopt a baby.

White's accused of receiving several thousand dollars worth of living and medical financial expenses from agencies and would-be parents in 2009, including a couple from South Carolina. White delivered a child in December 2009. The baby was placed in foster care.