Lasonya Poindexter, 30, of Joplin, was charged Thursday.[September 13, 2017] Her plot fell apart in July when the would-be adoptive parents, Laura and Garry Parton, became suspicious and reached out to the baby’s birth parents, Ashley and Christian Still, on Facebook, an affidavit says.
Missouri Day Care Provider Charged with Kidnapping While Setting Up a Sham Adoption UPDATED
“A Missouri day care provider accused of taking a baby to Arkansas to arrange for her adoption without the knowledge of the girl’s parents has been charged with attempted kidnapping.
The Stills confirmed that they hadn’t put the girl up for adoption and didn’t know that Poindexter had taken their baby to Lincoln, Arkansas, at least four times to meet the Partons.
According to the affidavit, the Partons wanted to adopt after suffering a miscarriage. A message left at their home wasn’t immediately returned. The Stills don’t have a listed phone number.
The affidavit says Poindexter asked for money for the girl’s care during one visit to the Partons’ home, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) to the south.
Poindexter’s attorney didn’t immediately return phone or email messages from The Associated Press. She is in federal custody pending a Tuesday detention hearing.
The affidavit says Poindexter first contacted the Arkansas couple through a friend in June and began making arrangements for them to adopt the infant girl who, along with a sibling, was being left in her care a few days a week. Poindexter’s trips to Arkansas for the couple to bond with the baby lasted two to three hours each.
Poindexter told the Partons she had been given the child to care for and that the baby had been conceived through a rape, something Ashley Still said was a lie. Poindexter also told them that the mother wanted a “closed” adoption so she wouldn’t know who was adopting the baby, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit doesn’t say how Poindexter planned to explain the disappearance of the baby girl to her parents.
The Arkansas couple began buying things for the baby and prepping a nursery. Poindexter told Laura Parton via Facebook Messenger that she was “glad” the girl “finally has parents who adore here,” adding that the baby “deserves so much more than she is getting.”
The Stills and Partons confronted Poindexter. The affidavit says she responded to the Arkansas couple by forwarding a screen shot of an email that appeared to be from an attorney working on the adoption paperwork. She told the baby’s parents that the would-be-adoptive mother was the current girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend who was trying to ruin her day care business.
Under questioning, Poindexter tried to shift the blame to her 16-year-old sister, suggesting that the teen may have used her Facebook accounts to set up the sham adoption, the affidavit says.
Poindexter later admitted to investigators that she knew she didn’t have permission to take the girl to Arkansas and that she had considered giving the Partons another baby in her care.”
Missouri Day Care Provider Accused Setting up Sham Adoption
[US News 9/15/17 by Heather Hollingsworth/AP]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“A federal judge Wednesday sentenced a Joplin day care operator to six years in prison for attempting to arrange an illegal adoption of a baby left in her care by a couple in Arkansas.
U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool ordered that Lasonya F. Poindexter, 31, serve the term without parole and pay $1,500 in restitution to the baby’s parents. Poindexter was indicted Sept. 20, 2017, on a charge of attempted kidnapping but pleaded guilty in the case June 21 of last year to an amended count of wire fraud.
Poindexter began taking care of the two children of Ashley and Christian Still, of Joplin, in April 17 at the day care service she ran out of her home with the assistance of a sister.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield said in news release today that she admitted in court having contacted a couple in Lincoln, Arkansas, and offering to arrange an adoption for them. The child to be adopted was the 5-month-old daughter of the Stills even though the child’s parents had never put her up for adoption or told anyone that she was available for adoption, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Poindexter made several trips to Arkansas with the girl to give the prospective “adoptive” couple, who had lost an unborn child to a miscarriage, a chance to spend some time with the girl. The trips were made without the permission or knowledge of the girl’s true parents.
The U.S. attorney’s office said the defendant falsely told the couple in Arkansas that the baby’s mother left her with Poindexter, hoping that she could find a good home for her because she was the product of a rape. She told the Arkansas couple that the mother wanted a closed adoption and asked them for money to provide for the care of the child until the adoption process was completed. But the couple refused to pay her until the adoption was accomplished.
Poindexter’s scheme fell apart when the couple in Arkansas became suspicious that the adoption was not aboveboard and were able to link the baby to the couple in Joplin through Facebook pages. The Arkansas couple then contacted the Joplin parents to check it out and learned that they had no intention of putting their baby up for adoption.
The Arkansas woman consequently challenged Poindexter about the matter and received an e-mail from her purporting to be from an attorney and supporting what she had told them. The U.S. attorney’s office said the e-mail proved to have been created by the defendant and the attorney whose name she used had never represented her nor had any communications with her regarding any adoption proceeding.”
Joplin day care operator sent to prison for illegal adoption scheme
[Joplin Globe 2/6/19 by Jeff Lehr]
As I always said, if it happens to non-white parents in the developing world, it’s called “trafficking” when a childcare provider shops a child entrusted to them for adoption. But in America, it’s called by its correct term: Kidnapping.