Adoption scam couple sentenced to probation
Simone Boraggina, 41, of Macomb Township, and Joseph Beauvais, 44, of Novi, owners of Waiting Angels Adoption Services, received a "delayed sentence" Tuesday from Judge Richard Caretti of Macomb County Circuit Court after pleading no contest in March to a misdemeanor tax fraud charge.
Felony charges of conducting a criminal enterprise and tax fraud will be dismissed in 11 months if the defendants comply with a list of conditions. One of the conditions, not working in the adoption industry, will be in effect for an additional two years.
But the important financial consequences will be decided at an April 30 evidentiary hearing in front of Caretti, who will determine how much will be paid to the more than 20 victims.
Assistant state attorney general Suzan Sanford on Tuesday told the judge that Boraggina and Beauvais owe victims $326,000.
That money could come from $524,000 that Michigan State Police seized in April 2007 from three safety deposit boxes in Boraggina's name and from her home. Beauvais withdrew $7,000 to $8,000 per week in 2005 and '06 from Waiting Angels accounts at Huntington Bank, collecting a total of $536,000, according to court records.
Beauvais' attorney, Steven Vitale, told the judge he disagreed with the attorney general office's accounting and noted that some money provided to Beauvais and Boraggina was sent to Guatemala.
State officials say the pair took thousands of dollars from each victim in 2005 and 2006 but never delivered a child in the seven to nine months promised nor repaid their customers. The pair also failed to report sufficient income on tax documents, officials said.
In her defense, Boraggina claimed in a defamation lawsuit she filed against Anthony and Jill Casassa of St. Cloud, Minn., -- who accuse her of taking their money and not delivering a child -- that adoptions from foreign countries are "difficult and unpredictable." In the Casassa case the mother of the prospective child changed her mind, she said.
Boraggina said in court
documents she has lived in Mount Clemens and Armada and prior to 1998 worked as marketing director for Joe Louis Arena and public relations director for the former Pine Knob Music Theatre. She said she has overseen 50 successful adoptions and has been "humiliated" by the allegations against her.
The lawsuit, which accused the Casassas of defaming Waiting Angels to other potential clients, was thrown out last July by Judge Mark Switalski, who said Boraggina could not show the business suffered a loss.
One of the victims in the state case, Amanda Heinrich, who attended Tuesday's hearing, said she and other victims would like to see the pair ordered to jail but admitted the higher priority is receiving their money and ensuring the defendants never return to the adoption business.
"I don't think there's one family that would want to see them in court in orange jumpsuits, but our goal is to put them out of business and not to be able to ever adopt a child again," Heinrich said outside the courtroom.
Six victims were part of the original criminal case. Additional victims came forward following the pair's arrest and accompanying publicity in early 2007, according to state spokesman Matt Frendewey.
Prior to the state filing criminal charges, the six families in late 2006 filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the defendants in the western district of Michigan of U.S. District Court. The case is on hold pending the conclusion of the criminal case.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Joni Fixel, said Tuesday that she has been talking to 10 to 15 more alleged victims who may join the lawsuit. Many of the accusers come from throughout the nation due to the company advertising on the Internet, she said.
Heinrich of Holt said she and her husband, Reece, paid more than $28,000 to the defendants, securing a home-equity loan to finance the adoption of a Guatemalan boy they had already named "Jamyson" and for whom they had purchased items, including a wooden chair adorned with his name.
The adoption attempt came after three years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, Heinrich said.
After two years of wrangling back and forth with Waiting Angels and the criminal charge filings, the couple last year was contacted by another agency, Adoption Associates, with offices in Farmington Hills, Lansing and other locations. The agency offered to provide free services until the couple is reimbursed by Boraggina and Beauvais.
The couple in October adopted infant twins, a boy and girl, from Michigan.