CHILD-SELLING ALLEGATIONS INVESTIGATED
Bobette Riner
The Dallas Morning News
July 18, 1985
GRAND PRAIRIE -- A pattern of questionable adoption proceedings led state authorities to investigate a Dallas lawyer in a possible child-selling scheme, two state district judges said Wednesday.
The lawyer, Robert I. Kingsley, was arrested Tuesday by Grand Prairie police, who seized evidence they say links the Northeast Dallas attorney to the alleged sale of a 7-month-old Grand Prairie girl.
And the state Department of Human Resources has referred three child-selling cases against Kingsley to district attorneys in Dallas and Denton counties and are investigating at least 24 more such cases, said investigator William Aycock of the Dallas human resources office.
Kingsley said Wednesday that he could not comment on the case. "I can't just laugh it off,' Kingsley said. "I have so much I have to tell you, but I can't just now.'
He said he had been "dabbling' in adoption cases throughout his lengthy law career, but had handled an increasing number in the past year.
His attorney, Tom McCorkle, said Kingsley's arrest is "all politics.'
"There's nothing wrong with private adoptions -- you don't have to go through the state,' McCorkle said. "If he's been doing things illegally, why hasn't he been indicted?'
Meanwhile, Grand Prairie police continued to search Wednesday for the child, Rachel Marie Hagge, and the Cedar Hill couple that was in the process of adopting her.
Grand Prairie Lt. J.M. Gatlin said police plan to file formal charges of child-selling against Kingsley within the next 10 days.
"We have a good case,' Gatlin said. "But we need to find (the couple). Our main concern is, Where's the baby?'
Kingsley caught the attention of several area district judges, who said they noticed a suspicious pattern. Whenever Kingsley filed lawsuits seeking termination of a natural parent's rights -- the first step in an adoption -- he did not follow up with a petition for adoption, state District Judge Craig Penfold of Dallas County said.
Because the two steps are usually taken simultaneously, officials said, Kingsley's omission was noticeable.
Denton County District Judge Sam Houston, with whom Kingsley filed an adoption in October 1984, said that "several things looked unusual, but I'd better not get into it. I had heard of some other cases at other times. The whole situation just bothered me.'
Houston said he directed state human resources investigators to file a report on the case in April.
In the Hagge case, the baby's mother signed over her parental rights to the Cedar Hill couple June 12, said E.A. Weinberg, the attorney who represented the couple.
The 20-year-old mother said Wednesday she had been dating the couple's son and thought they would take better care of Rachel.
Weinberg said that the Cedar Hill couple told him they had first approached Kingsley to handle the adoption, but that his fees were too high. The couple told Weinberg that Kingsley later approached them and asked them to give up the baby for adoption by a New York couple.
Aycock said that New York authorities have talked to him about Kingsley's possible link to a New York law firm being investigated in connection with a child-selling scheme.
McCorkle said he does not know of any connection between Kingsley and the New York law firm, but said Kingsley has dealt with a New York agency in arranging adoptions.
Rachel's mother and maternal grandparents said Wednesday they learned last week that Rachel was not with the Cedar Hill couple and called child welfare authorities.
Grand Prairie police questioned the couple, who told them child welfare had taken custody of Rachel, Gatlin said. When police discovered that authorities did not have the child, they obtained from Penfold a writ to produce the child.
But the couple had packed and fled, Gatlin said.
Police said they have not determined whether Rachel's mother is a suspect in the case.
"It could have been an agreement between the mother and all those people, or it could have been coercion,' Gatlin said.
Records seized in a search of Kingsley's office Tuesday yielded evidence that Kingsley had paid "at least $1,200' to the Cedar Hill couple, said police spokesman Gaylord Hayes.