Oklahoma Attorney Cheats Adoptive Parents

“An Oklahoma City adoption attorney is accused of cheating adoptive parents out of thousands of dollars.

Robert Golden Boren, 69, was charged Thursday with 25 felony counts, including trafficking in children, engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, and obtaining money under false pretenses.

Prosecutors accuse Boren of creating a fake company to charge adoptive parents more than actual living expenses of birth mothers, and of overcharging for so-called social services. A detective wrote in a court affidavit that Boren had more than $110,000 in illegal profits on cases she examined between 2009 and 2013.

The detective said adoptive parents were told birth mothers’ living expenses were being paid to ASL Rentals, but they didn’t know it was a “shell business” created by Boren. He would pay actual expenses and keep the surplus, the detective wrote.

Oklahoma law allows adoptive families to pay “reasonable and necessary expenses” for the birth mother up to two months after the child is born in relinquished.

According to the detective, Boren used the fake company’s account to write checks to his wife and son, as well as for personal expenses. Documents show Boren made between $1,400 and $6,500 in “illegitimate profit” in each case examined by the detective.

In the affidavit, the detective wrote Boren also made an illegal profit through charging for social services, including for having someone take the birth mother to appointments. Adoptive parents were charged $2,500 upfront for hourly payment of the employee, but the detective said that amount is “never depleted or used to pay for social services as they are performed” and wasn’t refunded if that amount of work wasn’t performed.

Parents were also charged $35 an hour even though Boren paid workers $10 to $15 an hour, the detective wrote.

The Oklahoman (http://bit.ly/1MJodjh ) reports Boren did not return calls seeking comment. He has been a licensed attorney in Oklahoma since 1983.”

Attorney accused of cheating adoptive parents out of money [Seattle PI 10/23/15 by Associated Press]

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