By Sarah Wallace

(New York - WABC, September 11, 2007) -- Monday, in an Eyewitness News Investigators special report, we introduced you to perspective parents who say they are the victims of a bait-and-switch adoption scheme.

It has led to a lot of heartbreak.

In Part II of our Investigators' report, we look at whether or not there is a pattern in the alleged scheme.

The Investigators' Sarah Wallace has more of her exclusive.

But the Internet has also allowed families connected with one controversial adoption agency to find each other. Now, the director is missing and a criminal investigation is underway.

"I thought, could this be my child, because it sure does look like my child," Ann Young said.

Young, of Long island, found out by chance that the baby girl her family was about to adopt in Eastern Europe had been given to another American couple.

She just happened to be reading a blog from a family already in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, where the Young's were about to travel to give biological son Christopher an adopted sister.

"How do we teach him now how to deal with this big major disappointment? We've had it before, we had two miscarriages, an ectopic pregnancy, and then we had Christopher," Ann said. "How do we teach him to get through this?"

So how did it happen? Months before, the Young's had seen a photo listing of the little girl on the Internet, placed by an agency called Adoption International Program.

"So, we're on the Internet," Ann added. "I spent days and days and hours, and then I came upon photo listings. I happened to see this child."

"I myself was adopted," Ann's husband, Christopher, said. "So it was time in my life to give back."

They contacted AIP's Director, Orson Mozes, and his wife, the co-director of the agency. Our investigation found that AIP operates out of a multi-million dollar estate the Mozes owns in Santa Barbara, California.

"Orson said, 'No problem, she can be yours,'" Ann said. "'She will be your baby. She will be for you. I will hold her for you.'"

They put down thousands of dollars, and even though AIP's contract didn't guarantee them a child, the Young's claim Mozes made them secure by sending updated videos of the baby.

"I just kept thinking, that oh, that's going to be my sister," Christopher said. "I'm going to be with her for the rest of my life."

"People who want a child, they will bond to a picture, and that's what I did," Ann said.

Months later, still waiting, the Youngs read that other family's description of the baby they'd just picked up in Kazakstan.

"And I E-mailed Orson and I said, please tell me the family that is over there adopting this child is not adopting my child," Ann said. "And his only comment was, 'I'm sorry, a big mistake was made.'"

It's a mistake that's apparently happened to others. We've been in contact with AIP clients from all over the United States with similar stories.

Sarah: "How do you look at him?"
Client Claudia Wessel: "A con artist. Someone who preys on people's hopes and dreams."

Ann Reese is an adoption advocate.

"And so an intermediary that says we can get you a child, much less a specific child whose picture is posted on the internet or given to you in person is just false," she said.

And there's no federal oversight of inter-country adoption agencies, which are now increasingly using the Internet. But the Internent also allowed AIP clients to find each other and share. And when a former employee sent out a group E-mail, clients began sharing stories and information.

"It's illegal in the country of Kazakstan to give photos or give referrals," Wessel said.

"It's illegal by Kasakstan law, but again, Orsen is doing business in the United States, and he's going to send you out of the United States," Young said. "He's got the best of both worlds."

Our investigation found that Mozes was previously fired from a Texas adoption agency and was then sued for allegedly abusing clients, screaming at them and even threatening to delay their adoptions. The suit was later dropped.

As for Orson Mozes? He's apparently disappeared, according to his wife, leaving her to "clean up his mess." She refused to speak with us on camera, even though we came all the way to California to try to get some answers for clients.

The attorney for Christen Brown, Mozes' wife, told us, "She's as much a victim as the adoption clients. The bad guy here is Orson Mozes."

Whoever it is, it's been a painful reality check for AIP clients.

"When we bonded to a picture, we bonded to a fantasy," Young said. "The reality is, it's better to bond to the flesh and blood."

And they finally did. The Young's gambled that they would get a child if they went in person to Kazakhstan, and came home with Lia, now 2 years old.

"When you see this beautiful child that we have, people are going to think, what are you complaining about?" Ann said. "We just don't want other people to emotionally go through what we went through...We believe in international adoption. What we don't believe in is bait and switch."

While the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Office launches a criminal investigation, several of the clients are now hiring civil attorneys to sue for misrepresentation and fraud.