exposing the dark side of adoption
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SMUGGLING FIGURE USED ALIASES

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The Miami Herald

Author: CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND ASHLEY FANTZ, cmarbin@herald.com

A central figure in an international adoption scandal involving baby smuggling has as many as seven Social Security numbers, and perhaps 20 different names, child welfare officials say.

Rolf Levy, a one-time Miami man who is now an international fugitive, was allowed to arrange the adoption of infants and children throughout South and Central America - under the authority of a licensed Florida adoption agency. He was listed as a ``foreign program coordinator'' and ``adoption consultant,'' for International Adoption Resource in Coral Springs.

The investigation involves authorities in Florida, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Colombia. The Florida Attorney General's Office has subpoenaed records from the agency. Administrators with the state Department of Children & Families are concerned that the adoption agency, which was relicensed by DCF in January 2003, gave Levy authority that he may have used to smuggle babies across borders.

``There are too many red flags not to be concerned about his relationship with IAR, and the fact that IAR should have known some of this information prior to his employment,'' said Jack Moss, DCF's district administrator in Fort Lauderdale.

``This is not like hiring a retail salesperson or clerical worker,'' Moss added. ``There are special obligations required in dealing with children.''

Michael B. Cohen, a Fort Lauderdale attorney representing the adoption agency, said Levy was not an employee of International Adoption Resource, but more like an independent contractor.

Rebecca Thurmond, the agency's executive director, had no way of knowing all the details of Levy's background, and certainly would have not involved him in the agency's business had she known he had done anything wrong, said Cohen, a former state and federal prosecutor.

``If this guy Levy was a bad [guy], my client did not know anything about it,'' Cohen said.

Acting on a tip, Costa Rican police in September 2003 raided a house in a middle-class neighborhood of San Jose. They found nine Guatemalan babies, the youngest two months old, allegedly brought to Costa Rica by a child-trafficking ring. Authorities said the babies were to be put up for adoption by foreign nationals.

A month later, Thurmond submitted an application to DCF's Fort Lauderdale office to be relicensed as an adoption agency. In the application, Rolf Levy is listed under ``staff'' as an adoption consultant and program coordinator. The Herald obtained the application Thursday from DCF.

A staff directory Thurmond provided to DCF listed a Social Security number for Levy that, records show, belongs to a Mission Viejo, Calif., teacher named Kenneth McBee. ``I never had signs that it had been used improperly,'' McBee told The Herald. ``I haven't gotten any bills I didn't ask for. But this is all strange to me.''

The adoption agency hired Levy in June; he applied for a job in April, records show. A mandatory FBI criminal background check reported no arrest record, said DCF senior attorney Deborah Guller.

The application shows the agency reported a total income of $1.1 million for the one-year period ending Sept. 30, 2003.

The application was still pending when, last month, the Costa Rican government - which has said it wishes to steer clear of the baby-smuggling scandals that have plagued nearby Guatemala - issued an international arrest order for Levy, alleging he smuggled children bound for adoptive homes in America.

The arrest order, which has been given to the international police agency Interpol, also states that Levy - identified as ``Rolf Salomon Levy Berger,'' is wanted by the Colombian government for his involvement in ``kidnapping and trafficking in children as well as homicide for lack of medical attention of one of the children that he offered for sale,'' in Colombia.

DCF suspended the adoption agency's license Dec. 5, in a letter that said IAR had lied about its connections with another suspected child smuggler, Costa Rican attorney Carlos Robles, who was acting as an intermediary for the agency. Robles was jailed in September by Costa Rican authorities on suspicion of child trafficking.

2004 Jan 10