Page 28 of Facing the Enemy
Jack opened the door and laid the manila envelope on the table before he took his seat. I grabbed my legal pad and pen. “Mr. Wade, we’d like to begin with you relaying your adoption story. Every detail matters.”
Alex continued to hold Nanette’s hand. “My wife and I are unable to have children. I’m sure you learned about my previous conviction from the FBI in Des Moines. My conviction was my fault. I lost mytemper, got into a fight, and the man died. I paid my debt to society.”
Nanette gave her husband a reassuring smile. “It’s all right, honey. What happened with the baby is not your fault or mine.”
Alex closed his eyes, as though refocusing. “My wife saw an ad on social media about a private adoption center opening in Des Moines—Your Heart for Adoption Agency. We thought we’d try once more to see if a private agency could find us a baby. The man we met, by the name of Harvey Sinclair, said if we were up-front to the biological parents about my past and showed financial and community responsibility, we could adopt. My record since prison is spotless, eliminating any discrepancies in our reputation. The agency asked for ten thousand dollars to start the proceedings. A second ten thousand was due when the agency found a potential child for us, and a third installment when we met the birth mother. A fourth and final payment was due when we took possession legally of the baby at the agency’s office. At that time, we’d be presented with medical papers, the child’s Social Security card, and a birth certificate. Mr. Sinclair gave us a brochure with a history of the agency. It also contained testimonials and state phone numbers for us to check on their legality. I compared their brochure to Iowa’s online private adoption guidelines and laws and believed the agency was within the recommended parameters of our state.”
“What guidelines specifically?” I said.
“They displayed their state licensing for starters. I requested and read their documents and references. Mr. Sinclair said there were noshortcuts in adopting a child. Every letter of the law must be upheld. He asked if we wanted to hire our own social worker to interview the birth mother, but we chose to use theirs, which was Mr. Sinclair. I should have suspected something then, but we were so excited to have a child.”
“Did Harvey Sinclair or anyone you met have an accent or appear not to be a US citizen?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you follow through in verifying the agency?” I said.
“Yes. I talked to two women, one who is the state licensing specialist and the second who represented the state attorney general’s office for any complaints.”
Suspicions rose in my mind. “You used the numbers on their brochure?”
“Yes, sir. The brochure is in the packet of information.”
“Good. You and Mrs. Wade met the birth mother. When and where did this happen?”
“Five weeks ago. We met a very pregnant young woman at the adoption agency’s office. She had questions and was concerned about us caring properly for her baby. Her name is Emily Lock, but now I question if it’s her real name. But she might not have been aware of the fraud. We saw a sonogram with her name on it. It didn’t show the sex, but we were fine with that.”
“Did she mention where she lived or any personal information?”
“She claimed to live north of Des Moines. She refused visitation rights but needed approximately eight thousand dollars reimbursement for medical bills. Mr. Sinclair said he’d add the extra reimbursement to our bill. A week ago, Sinclair informed us that Emily had gone into labor. But she claimed to have second thoughts about giving up her baby. Mr. Sinclair told us he could refund half of the money if she chose to keep her child, but the remaining twenty thousand covered adoption fees and her medical expenses. Then last week we received a call from him that Emily had signed off on parental rights. We could pick up our baby boy at his office and take him home. Our official adoption proceedings would be in front of a judgein approximately three to four months. A few hours after we had the baby home, Nanette and I noted he was very fussy, so we placed his crib in our bedroom. We blamed the new surroundings on his inability to get comfortable. Nanette held him all night and the whole next day. The second night, his condition seemed worse. The next day he showed signs of breathing difficulties. We rushed him to the hospital. The rest you know.”
“You believed the child was days old instead of six weeks,” I said.
Alex and Nanette nodded. “According to Des Moines FBI, the birth date on our paperwork is false,” Alex said.
“What was your method of payment?”
“Credit card. I checked with my bank yesterday and found out the money had been taken from our account for a total of forty-eight thousand dollars.”
A nightmare for sure. “So a minimum of two people were involved in the deception—Harvey Sinclair and Emily Lock, the pregnant young woman?”
“Yes. He had the legal papers ready for us to sign, and he said he’d take care of filing them.” Alex pointed to the manila folder in Jack’s possession. “I kept every bit of correspondence, even phone call conversations and dates. Emails were printed out as well as copies of documents.”
“And you have an extra copy of everything?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did the agency conduct a home study?”
“Mr. Sinclair handled it,” Nanette said. “He toured our home, requested our business records, copies of tax returns for the past seven years, our home mortgage, retirement provisions, and the name and address of the pediatrician we’d chosen.”
“Bank accounts too?”
She startled and turned to her husband.
“I took care of canceling our credit cards and alerted the bank as soon as the FBI told us of the scam,” Alex said.
She relaxed slightly. “Harvey Sinclair was a guest in our home for dinner. How could we have been so stupid?”
