Secretary booked in adoption case

The Baton Rouge Advocate

October 31, 1987

A Baton Rouge paralegal secretary on Friday turned herself in to police after a warrant was issued for her arrest in connection with the prearranged adoption of the baby of an unwed, minor Pennsylvania girl, authorities said.

Karen Gay Prejean, 34, of 1425 Chippenham Drive, was booked as a fugitive from Pennsylvania on a warrant for interfering with the custody of a child and conspiracy to interfere with the custody of a child, a Greene County, Pa., assistant district attorney said.

Prejean was signed out of jail by her father in lieu of paying $2,500 bond, booking records show.

Richard Gitelman, 45, of Coral Springs, Fla., who has been investigated in Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Florida for baby brokering, turned himself in to the sheriff's office in Coral Springs on Friday in connection with similar arrest warrants issued from Greene County, said Prejean's attorney, Mike Walsh.

Gitelman and Prejean are accused of enticing Rebekah Lin Dulik, 17, of Nemacolin, Pa., to Louisiana for a prearranged, confidential adoption with the promise of paid medical bills, housing, food, maternity clothes and spending money for her and her boyfriend, Greene County Assistant District Attorney Mary Pruss said.

Prejean is suspected of acting as an agent in Louisiana -- where adoption laws were lax until tightened last month -- for Gitelman, who is accused of being a baby broker, Pruss said.

Walsh said Prejean "never has" worked for Gitelman. The only contact his client has had with Gitelman was by telephone, when she answered a call from him on the Pennsylvania case, Walsh said.

A warrant was issued for Prejean's arrest two months ago, just days after Dulik and her boyfriend, Mark Anthony Hager, 20, of Clarksville, Pa., traveled to Baton Rouge on Aug. 24, Pruss said.

However, that warrant was recalled, pending further investigation by the Greene County district attorney's office, and reissued the first week of October, Pruss said. The follow-up investigation led to the warrant for Gitelman's arrest.