'BROKER' PLACES BABY AD LAW: BUSINESSMAN WALKING LEGAL LINE
Michael Sangiacomo
Post-Tribune
June 21, 1989
A newspaper ad allegedly placed by a happily married childless couple seeking to adopt a child was instead placed by Richard Gitelman, a Florida businessman who makes a living finding newborn babies for couples who want a quick adoption without the red tape and are willing to pay for it.
A spokesman for the Indiana attorney general's office said Gitelman is walking a fine, legal line with his ad, and could be charged with child- selling by a county prosecutor.
Gitelman placed the ad in the Post-Tribune June 7, intending for it to run for 28 days.
However, Post-Tribune Advertising Director Ronald A. Miller pulled the ad after it ran one day.
"It definitely raised a red flag for me," Miller said. "I decided it wasn't our job to play detective, so I turned it over to the Better Business Bureau.
"We didn't know anything about this guy, and here he was offering what is basically a baby brokerage business."
Miller said that when ads are accepted for the type of business Gitelman operates, the Post-Tribune wants to know who the person is offering the service, what that person's credentials are, whether the person is licensed to do business, and the location of the birthing facility.
"We didn't have answers to any of those questions, and as a matter of fact, still don't," said Miller.
Gitelman has placed similar ads in newspapers across the country over the past few years. Because of his operation, several states have passed laws forbidding so-called "baby farming." Many of the ads were almost word-for- word the same as the one that appeared in the Post-Tribune.
Gitelman acts as a private adoption agency for couples around the country. His success, as well as his fees, vary. Some accounts said he charges a minimum of $10,000 and as much as $45,000 to secure the transaction. Gitelman, who went bankrupt in 1986, has said he sometimes gets nothing for his services.
Gitelman flies pregnant women to a location where they receive room, board and medical attention until they have their child. The child is then turned over to adoptive parents.
When contacted earlier this week in his home in an exclusive neighborhood of Coral Springs, Fla., Gitelman said the Post-Tribune ad was run with a specific set of prospective parents in mind. He said he ran the ad to save the prospective parents from "getting a lot of prank calls." He denied it was a blind ad to line up a list of potential babies he could later match up with hopeful parents.
Dan Foley, of the Indiana attorney general's office, said there is a state statute that makes it illegal for a person to give a child to another in exchange for money or other consideration.
"The question becomes, what is consideration?" Foley said. "Is putting a woman up in a motel, paying for her room and board and medical expenses consideration? If so, a county prosecutor may wish to prosecute."
The crime carries a 2- to 4-year sentence and a $10,000 fine. A spokesman for the Lake County prosecutor's office said there have been no complaints filed over the ad.
Gitelman was arrested in 1987 in Pennsylvania for enticing a 17-year-old girl to fly to Louisiana to have her child. The girl's parents intervened and took the young mother home. State officials said Gitelman was arrested because the woman was a minor at the time she responded to an ad in a local newspaper.
"It may be heavy-handed and immoral, but it's not illegal as long as the woman is an adult," said Greene County, Pa., District Attorney David Pollock. ''We charged him with interference with custody. Text of ad pulled from Post-Tribune
Below is the text of the ad placed by Richard Gitelman and which the Post- Tribune pulled after the first insertion:
ADOPTION
Loving, well-educated, financially secure, religious, happily married couple desperately desires to adopt white newborn to share their life with. All the advantages that life has to offer awaits your baby. But most of all, love, understanding, warmth and the promise of complete devotion to the happiness of your baby is assured. Strictly legal. Attorney involved, all medical, legal and birth-related expenses paid including housing, maternity clothes, food and counseling if desired.
PLEASE THINK
ADOPTION
Confidential, Call Collect