Preying On Hope

The dangers of doing business online seem to be growing daily, even when the business involves babies. 48 Hours investigates an Internet adoption scandal that left dozens of couples out in the cold.

When Steve Motl and his wife Kelly found they were unable to conceive, they decided to adopt. Their family farm in southern Wisconsin seemed an ideal place to raise children and they eventually adopted their son, Jason, through a state agency.

But finding a brother or a sister for Jason proved difficult. The state offered little hope of placing another child with them. "Basically, in their words, 'we won't ever find you a child. But if you find a child, we will definitely help you finalize it and make it legal,'" said Kelly Motl.

So in the spring of 1998, Steve and Kelly turned to an online adoption facilitator who helped to match adoptive parents with pregnant women.

Within a matter of weeks, Furlow told the Motls she had information on a birth mother, whose name was Laurel.

With their hopes soaring, the Motls didn't hesitate when Sonya Furlow asked for $3,500 to help pay Laurel's expenses.

Around the same time, Kelly and Ken Mostrom were also working with Furlow to adopt a second child. After re-financing their home, they paid Furlow $3,500 when she matched them with a birth mother from Philadelphia.

As the Mostroms were waiting anxiously for the birth, Furlow sent an email saying the birth mother had decided to keep the baby.

Back in Wisconsin, the Motls were going through a similar heartache. Furlow told them the birth father wanted to keep the baby.

"The Internet allowed her to reach a large number of parents who wanted to adopt a child. She had a well-designed - what looked like a genuine - Web site. And that's where she got her victims," says Charles Elliott, a Philadelphia accountant and fraud examiner. He began investigating Furlow after receiving a complaint from one of his clients.

Elliott turned his findings over to the FBI. They say their investigation revealed Furlow had defrauded 43 couples out of more than $200,000. Last year, Furlow pled guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to nearly four years in prison.

But how did these families get sucked into Furlow's web of lies? Gloria Hochman of the National Adoption Center, an agency that provides online adoption assistance, says when it comes to prospective parents, the hope of a new child can easily get in the way of common sense. "There are people lining up to adopt healthy white babies. Why would you need a Web site to promote their adoption?" she said.

According to Hochman, couples should thoroughly investigate an adoption agency before agreeing to use its services.

As for the Motls and the Mostroms, their stories ended happily. Late last year, using a private attorney, the Mostroms adopted three children, all from one family.

Kelly and Steve Motl were contacted through the Internet by a birth mother who had heard of their ordeal. They are now the proud parents a new daughter, Grace.

Since 48 Hours first reported this story last January, tough times, as well as the debt incurred by the adoption scam, have forced the Motls to sell off most of their farm.

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