California woman charged in Kansas adoption scam UPDATED

” A California woman faces federal fraud charges in Kansas after prosecutors say she pretended to be pregnant in order to scam prospective adoptive parents.

An indictment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas charges Chrystal M. Rippey with one count each of wire fraud and mail fraud. Court records do not indicate her age or hometown, and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to release that information.

The indictment alleges Rippey devised a scheme whereby she contacted adoption agencies and individuals who wanted to adopt a child. She pretended to be pregnant and said she wanted to give her unborn child up for adoption, and prospective families would buy her meals and gifts under the belief she was willing to allow them to adopt, the indictment said.

The wire fraud count relates to the $22,225 a couple from Shawnee, Kan., wired her to an escrow account in Temecula, Calif., set up by a legitimate adoption agency for Rippey’s living expenses. The mail fraud count stems from an Overland Park adoption agency mailing a birth mother packet to Rippey.

Court records do not list a defense attorney for Rippey, and the U.S. attorney’s office said she has not been arrested and authorities don’t know where she is.

In June 2011, Rippey contacted Unique Adoptions, a California adoption agency, saying she was pregnant and wanted someone to adopt her twin babies, which were due in December that year. The agency emailed her profiles of prospective adoptive parents and she selected a couple from Delaware.

The Delaware couple bought her an airline ticket and flew her to Delaware to live with them. They took her on vacation, paid for her living expenses and bought food, clothes and a cellphone, the indictment says.

Rippey eventually called the California agency and said she did not wish to stay with the Delaware couple any longer, and the agency flew her back to California, where she reviewed more prospective adoptive parents, the indictment says.

Prosecutors say Rippey then selected the Kansas couple, who wired her $22,225 on Aug. 8, 2011, from their bank account to an escrow account in California set up by the adoption agency for her living expenses. A couple of weeks later, they deposited another $6,500, and $2,500 more in October.

The Kansas couple flew to California to meet Rippey in October 2011. She gave them sonogram images of a twin pregnancy, falsely claiming they were her unborn children.

The indictment says she was not pregnant at the time and obtained the images from the Internet.

After returning home, the Kansas couple learned Rippey had been working with another adoption agency, American Adoptions, this one in Overland Park. That agency matched Rippey with other adoptive parents, who also sent her money in September 2011 for living expenses and flew to California to meet her, prosecutors said.

In November 2011, Rippey allegedly contacted Abrazo Adoption Associates in Texas, telling them she was pregnant with one child and due in 20 weeks. The agency sent her several profiles of prospective adoptive parents and she selected a Georgia couple to be adoptive parents, the indictment says.

The indictment alleges she also told them she had financial needs, but that couple would not give her any money when she refused to sign paperwork from the adoption agency.”

Calif. woman charged in Kansas adoption scam[Miami Herald 2/20/14 By ROXANA HEGEMAN/Associated Press]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:”A woman accused of pretending to be pregnant to scam prospective adoptive parents in Kansas and elsewhere will remain held without bond while awaiting trial.

A federal magistrate judge in Kansas City, Kansas, ruled Tuesday that 34-year-old Chrystal Marie Rippey, of Marshall, Texas, is a serious flight risk. Rippey’s attorney did not immediately return a phone message.

Rippey was indicted in February on federal charges of mail and wire fraud.

Prosecutors allege Rippey contacted adoption agencies and individuals, pretending she was pregnant and seeking to give up her unborn child for adoption. The indictment says prospective parents bought her meals and gifts, believing she was willing to let them adopt her baby after birth.”

Woman held without bond in Kansas adoption scam[San Francisco Gate 5/21/14 by Associated Press]

Update 2:”A Texas woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to defrauding four families that wanted to adopt children, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom

Chrystal Marie Rippey, 34, Marshall, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. In her plea, she admitted she devised a scheme in which she pretended to be pregnant. She contacted adoption agencies and individuals who wanted to adopt and said she was willing to give up her unborn children for adoption. She asked adoption agencies and individuals for money for rent, utilities, food and living expenses.

Couple No. 1: A Delaware couple moved Rippey into their home for a month. They took her on a two-week vacation on the beach and paid for her living expenses, new clothes, cell phone and food. She gave them a sonogram that she claimed showed her pregnancy with twins. In fact, she got the image from the Internet. Then she broke off contact with them.

Couple No. 2: A couple from Shawnee, Kan., put more than $22,000 in an escrow account to pay for Rippey’s living expenses. She told them false stories about her troubles with Child Protective Services and a fire that burned down the home of the birth father in order to get the couple to give her more money. Then she broke off contact with them.

Couple 3: Working with an adoption agency in Overland Park, Kan., Rippey contacted another couple that began providing support for her. They were shocked when they went to California to meet her and saw that she didn’t look pregnant.

Couple 4: Another couple ran up expenses for fees to an adoption agency in Texas as well as travel expenses in hopes of adopting twins from Rippey. Rippey claimed she had a son in the hospital and that she had not eaten in days in order to get money from the couple. But the couple refused her request because the adoption agency told them not to give her any money until she completed adoption paperwork.

Sentencing will be set for a later date. Both parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of 31 months followed by three years supervised release.

Grissom commended the Overland Park Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Oakley for their work on the case.”

Texas Woman Pleads Guilty In Federal Adoption Fraud Case in Kansas[Kansas City Kansan 9/18/14]

 Update 3: “A Texas woman was sentenced to five years in federal prison for defrauding a Kansas couple in an adoption scheme.

Thirty-five-year-old Chrystal Marie Rippey, of Marshall, Texas, was sentenced Tuesday for two counts of wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors say Rippey admitted that she took $22,225 from a Shawnee, Kansas, couple who believed she was pregnant with twins and who wanted to adopt the children.

The money was intended to pay for Rippey’s living expenses.

Prosecutors say the transactions were based on Rippey’s false statements that she was pregnant and wanted to put her twins up for adoption.”

Texas woman sentenced for adoption fraud of Kansas couple[Kake 5/27/15 by Associated Press]

Update 4: “A Texas woman who faked a pregnancy in an adoption fraud case where a Kansas couple paid her more than $22,000 escaped custody last month, officials said.

Chrystal Marie Rippey, 38, formerly of Marshall, Texas, was charged with escaping federal custody after she walked away from a halfway house, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release.

Rippey turned up missing from the Grossman Residential Reentry Center in Leavenworth, Kan., on July 17, the release said, and was later arrested in Monroe, La.

Rippey was arrested July 26 on suspicion of simple escape and booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center, jail records show. She was released to federal authorities on July 31.