Utah Woman Busted For Trying to Smuggle a Baby out of the Philippines UPDATED
“A Utah woman who allegedly purchased a newborn from a teen mom in the Philippines and later tried to smuggle him out of the country in her hand luggage faces life in prison after being charged with human trafficking and child abuse.
Jennifer Erin Talbot, 42, is said to have arranged to adopt the six-day-old baby from the young mother who she first met online before attempting to fly home with the boy to the US on Wednesday.
Talbot, from Sandy, who is married with five children, was able to pass through the airport’s immigration counter without raising suspicions, however she was later intercepted at the gate by Delta Airlines personnel.
Clad in an orange detainee shirt and handcuffs Thursday, Talbot was paraded on national television in front of reporters as officials from the National Bureau of investigation announced her human trafficking charges.
In addition, officials said she will also be tried for child abuse and kidnapping with serious illegal detention.
Talbot kept her head low and appeared at times to be on the verge of tears throughout the parade and subsequent press conference.
She only broke her silence to say she was from Ohio, despite investigators listing her current home as an address in Utah.
The investigation bureau said Talbot presented an affidavit at the airport, allegedly from the baby’s mother, Maricris Cempron Dulap, giving consent for the baby to travel to the US, but it had not been signed by Dulap.
Officials said no government travel approval had been issued for the baby, prompting them to file human trafficking charges against Talbot.
She also allegedly told officials she was the boy’s aunt, but failed to provide any documents to substantiate the claim.
Talbot kept her head low and appeared at times to be on the verge of tears throughout the parade and subsequent press conference.
She only broke her silence to say she was from Ohio, despite investigators listing her current home as an address in Utah.
The investigation bureau said Talbot presented an affidavit at the airport, allegedly from the baby’s mother, Maricris Cempron Dulap, giving consent for the baby to travel to the US, but it had not been signed by Dulap.
Officials said no government travel approval had been issued for the baby, prompting them to file human trafficking charges against Talbot.
She also allegedly told officials she was the boy’s aunt, but failed to provide any documents to substantiate the claim.
Talbot has been married three times and currently lives with her husband Lawrence, 58, in Sandy, Utah.
She has previously lived in Virginia, Florida and Ohio, and currently works at the ZCMI Center Mall in Salt Lake County.
She had two children with her first husband, Craig Holder, one of which became center to a paternity suit in 2008.
Her eldest son, Spencer Holder, is currently serving as a US Navy sailor.
Talbot later married attorney David Pace, who represented her, but they split the same year the suit was filed.
The University of Utah alum was ready to board a Delta Air Lines flight to the United States with the baby at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Wednesday when she was halted and subjected to a bag search, officials said.
After discovering the baby in her ‘over-sized belt bag’, airline staff called immigration personnel, who arrested Talbot at the airport.
Talbot was later turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation and the baby was given to government welfare personnel.
During Thursday’s press conference, Manuel Dimaano, airport division chief for the NBI, demonstrated how Talbot attempted to transport the baby in sling bag under her arm, instead of across her chest.
‘There was really intention to conceal and sneak out the baby,’ Dimaano told reporters.
‘Based on the CCTV footage obtained, Talbot was carrying the baby inside the sling bag as if she was just carrying an ordinary shoulder bag, and unmindful of the inconvenient condition and difficult situation of the baby.’
Dimaano added that though Dulap hasn’t yet been apprehended, she has been interviewed by social welfare officers by phone.
During questioning, Talbot is said to have told investigators that Dulap was a friend of her brother’s ex-girlfriend, and that she’d been staying with her from the day the baby was born up until she attempted to fly home with the infant.
In contrast however, Dulap told officers her and Talbot met online.
It’s during their online interactions that authorities believe the pair negotiated the adoption of the then-unborn child.
Talbot then flew from the US to meet Dulap in person at her Davao City home last month, where she stayed with her until the teen gave birth.
From there, the suspect apparently caught one flight from Davao to Manila with the boy, without alerting security.
But she was caught at terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, at around 6:20am yesterday.
Officials said the newborn had been hidden in a large bag and ‘was not declared nor presented to the immigration inspector during departure formalities.’
‘She would not have a baby in a hand-carry to be x-rayed. But she hid it at check-in and when she passed immigration counters, and then at the other x-ray to the boarding gate, then she showed it,’ Grifton Medina of the NBI told NBC.
‘That’s the time we were able to apprehend her, when she passed through the next x-ray.’
The boy is said to be in ‘good health’ as he remains in hospital under the watch of the the Department of Social Welfare and Development while investigations continue.”
[Daily Mail 9/5/19 by Luke Kenton]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: “The Utah mother-of-five accused of trying to ‘smuggle’ a newborn out of the Philippines said she was ‘desperate’ for a baby and had posted adoption ads online, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Jennifer Talbot, 42, from Sandy, was charged with human trafficking and child abuse last week after she was caught trying to board a flight to Detroit with a six-day-old boy in her carry-on.
Months before traveling overseas, Talbot published an ad on a public classifieds website seeking to adopt a child or ‘a small sibling group’ in Scott County, Mississippi.
In a now-deleted post from June 23 obtained by DailyMail.com, she explains she cannot have children after trying with her husband for ‘many, many years.’
She describes her family as having a ‘huge home and even larger heart’, who attend church on Sundays and have family dinners ‘everyday.’
We travel the world a lot with our children allowing them experiences only a few will achieve. When at home, our children play soccer and scouts and attend a private school. Our daughter does dance/cheer/tumbling,’ it states.
But sources told DailyMail.com Talbot’s three young children attend public school and although the family identifies as Mormons, they ‘do not go to church’ frequently.
Talbot, who was arrested on September 4, allegedly told friends and family she was ‘desperate’ for a child.
However, a source, who did not wished to be named, claimed Talbot wanted to avoid going through the adoption process.
‘Saying that she was just so desperate to get a baby gives wrong message. She is a woman who thinks she is above the law and just does and says whatever she wants. No matter who is hurt in the process,’ the source said.
‘I think the desperate part is the story she wants to get out there instead of truth.
‘She doesn’t think she has to be honest and truthful in her dealings with people or authorities. And she may have just met her match this time with the Filipino government.’
Talbot’s five children include two adults from her first marriage – Spencer Holder, a serving U.S. Navy sailor, and Alexis Crabtree, a married mother of one.
Originally from Ohio, Talbot, who also goes by her maiden name Swaney, now lives in Sandy with her third husband Kirk, 58, and her three kids from a previous marriage.
DailyMail.com revealed earlier this week Talbot presented Filipino authorities at the airport with legal documents claiming she was the aunt of baby Andrew, who was born to 19-year-old Maicris Dulap in Davao City on August 29.
In an affidavit of consent and support, Dulap allegedly provided three reasons for her child’s trip to the States: to ‘receive a name and blessing’ and membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to receive American medical vaccines and ‘to meet his Great Grandmother before she passes on.’
The affidavit described Andrew’s great-grandmother’ as ‘on end of life care.’
‘To meet his great grandmother, my son will travel to Ohio first then to Utah with his aunt,’ it stated.
‘Tentative dates of travel are as soon as possible as my son’s great grandmother is about to pass at any time. She is on “end of life” care.’
There was no signature on the document from the baby’s mother and investigators have not yet been able to trace Dulap.
DailyMail.com can also reveal the teenage mother had commented on one of Talbot’s Facebook posts on August 1 – days before Talbot flew overseas.
She arrived in the Philippines on August 6 and again on August 19. She arrived in the city of Davao more than a thousand miles south of Manila on August 21.
It was there that Dulap gave birth to her baby boy eight days later.
Dulap had posted a photo of her son on Facebook a day after he was born stating: ‘That feeling that you’re not sure if this is really your child,’ – a possible nod to the fact that she was due to hand the child over to Talbot in a matter of days.
The unmarried teen mom, who goes by the nickname Jham, is also a wannabe reality TV star who once applied to be part of Pinoy Big Brother, the local franchise of the reality TV show.
In her application she gave her talents as ‘dancing, singing, acting and joking.’
She admitted that she had dropped out of school and ‘lost her way’ due to the bad influence of friends and claimed that her parents once told her she was ‘worthless.’
In social media posts, a troubling image emerges of a young girl who has struggled with depression and threatened to kill herself on more than one occasion.
In one post, on May 3 of this year, she wrote: ‘I think it’s time to say goodbye to myself.’
n another apparent cry for help later that same day she stated: ‘I need someone to bring me back and believe in myself again.’
On Tuesday, Talbot appeared in Pasay City Regional Court where she was arraigned before being transferred to Pasay City Jail where she is now being held.
The notoriously squalid jail was built to house 1,050 but has held more than eight times that number.
Cells built to hold 40 inmates and measuring 245 sq ft regularly hold more than 100 and there were a dozen inmate deaths reported last year due to heat and overcrowding.
She faces life in prison and and a fine somewhere between $38,500 to $96,200 if found guilty.
On Monday the child was still in the care of the country’s Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The baby’s mother has been charged with neglect of a child but has not been arrested.
She is currently is in custody and it is not known if she has appointed an attorney, though a U.S. Embassy official confirmed that she has been provided with a list of law offices to contact. ”
Utah mom who ‘tried to smuggle Filipino newborn on plane’ posted ads for adoptions ONLINE claiming her other kids attended private school and went to ‘church on Sundays’
[Daily Mail 9/16/19 by Karen Ruiz and Laura Collins]
Update 2:“A Utah woman charged with human trafficking for allegedly attempting to smuggle a six-day-old baby out of the Philippines inside a sling bag in September has been hit with the additional charge of kidnapping.
Jennifer Talbot, who was out on bail while facing the human trafficking charge, was presented to reporters in Manila on Wednesday by officials from the National Bureau of Investigation, a government anti-crime investigative agency.
Talbot wore an orange shirt and had a mask on, with her left arm in a sling.
She pulled down her mask and said, ‘I object to this press conference without my attorney and the embassy present.’
Talbot had planned to board a Delta Air Lines flight to the United States with the baby on September 4 with the baby in her carry-on.
The boy had been named Andrew by his mother, 19-year-old Maicris Dulap, a Filipino teenager with dreams of becoming a reality TV star.
In an affidavit of consent and support, Dulap allegedly provided three reasons for her child’s trip to the States: to ‘receive a name and blessing’ and membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to receive American medical vaccines and ‘to meet his Great Grandmother before she passes on.’
After discovering the baby, airline staff called immigration personnel, who arrested Talbot at the airport.
The baby was turned over to government welfare personnel.
Officials said no government travel approval had been issued for the baby, prompting them to file human trafficking charges last year against Talbot.
Talbot also violated at least two other laws, kidnapping and illegal detention, the prosecutors said.
Talbot was served with an arrest warrant for kidnapping on Monday while she was attending a court hearing related to the trafficking charge.
There is no bail available for kidnapping.
An initial hearing on the kidnapping charge is scheduled on March 12.
Talbot had posted online about her Mormon family and five kids.
In online ads where she sought babies to adopt, she wrote: ‘We travel the world a lot with our children allowing them experiences only a few will achieve.
‘When at home, our children play soccer and scouts and attend a private school.
‘Our daughter does dance/cheer/tumbling.’ ”
[Daily Mail 02/19/2020 by Jennifer Smith and AP]
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