North Dakota Woman Charged with Adoption Scam UPDATED

“When an Oregon couple became suspicious about a North Dakota woman who promised to procure a Native American baby for them to adopt, the woman invoked the name of murdered pregnant Fargo woman Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind to buy more time.

Now that woman has been charged with theft for allegedly scamming the couple out of $1,800 in adoption fees

Betty Jo Krenz of Woodworth, N.D., was charged with theft of services, a felony, in Stutsman County District Court on Monday, April 9. In unrelated incidents, Krenz also faces a felony count of unauthorized use of personal identifying information and a misdemeanor count of theft of services.

Krenz is accused of taking money from a Medford, Ore., family under the guise of facilitating an adoption for them. The couple says they’d been trying to adopt a child for 18 years, according to authorities.

Court documents say Krenz promised an Oregon woman identified only as “AB” that she’d provide a baby born to a South Dakota woman identified as “JB” and at one point during the process needed $1,800 for filing fees and plane tickets.

A report by WDAY-TV in October identified an Oregon woman who wrote of a possible scam on Facebook as Autym Burke and the South Dakota mother as Jodie Blackboy.

According to court documents:

Krenz contacted JB, who she knew through JB’s deceased cousin, in early 2017 to see how she was doing. JB told Krenz she was pregnant and homeless. Krenz sent JB money and “kept talking with JB about ‘giving JB’s daughter up for adoption.’”

JB said she was not going to give up her daughter for adoption, but Krenz kept “pushing and pushing” and trying to “bully” her into it.

In February 2017, AB was put in contact with Krenz through a mutual acquaintance and was told there was a pregnant woman named JB who was due to have a baby girl in May and that JB was interested in putting the child up for adoption. AB expressed interest, but didn’t hear from Krenz again for awhile.

In May, AB received photographs of a mom giving birth to a girl. Krenz called AB after the birth and said, “We had a baby girl today.” But Krenz said JB was having a hard time deciding whether to give up the baby. AB tried to contact Krenz in the months afterward, but didn’t hear back.

In July, Krenz contacted AB through an Idaho woman with whom she was working to allegedly procure a child and visited AB’s home in Medford and told the family it would receive the child on Aug. 8. Krenz told the family there would be no cost because everything was being covered by a nonprofit group called Sacred Journey Lodge. AB said at this point she and Krenz were communicating almost daily and Krenz was sending pictures and video of the baby.

According to earlier reporting by WDAY-TV, the photos were taken from JB and used without her permission.

Court documents say that as the alleged adoption day neared, Krenz said a Fargo area woman had stolen money from Sacred Journey Lodge and it would not be able to cover adoption costs so AB’s family would have to pay $1,800, which it did with a credit card.

AB made plans to travel to North Dakota on Aug. 8 to pick up the baby, but the day before the family was supposed to fly out Krenz called AB saying the paternity of the child was in question and the adoption would be delayed.

AB said there were delays for the next four weeks. One of the delays was that Krenz said she was an informant in the Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind case and that she needed to go into protective custody with the FBI. Krenz spoke of receiving custody of the LaFontaine-Greywind baby and possibly placing it in temporary custody with AB.

It was then that AB requested photos of Krenz together with the baby AB’s family was supposed to adopt, but Krenz would only send pictures of the child. Krenz asked AB to send her $2,700 for plane tickets, which AB refused. Shortly thereafter, AB told Krenz not to contact her anymore. AB requested Krenz pay back the $1,800, which Krenz did.

AB eventually contacted JB on Facebook to tell the child’s mother what happened, and JB confirmed the baby was never up for adoption. AB and others shared their stories about Krenz on Facebook and contacted law enforcement, according to court documents.

The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

The other charges against Krenz stem from her alleged use of a person’s name, telephone number, address and email address to make purchases with a value of less than $1,000 and her alleged retention of cans of pepper spray to gain a benefit of less than $500.

A phone message left for Krenz Monday was not immediately returned. Court records do not identify an attorney for her.”
North Dakota woman charged with adoption scam

[The Bismarck Tribune 4/9/18]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A Woodworth woman was sentenced to more than four years in prison Monday, Jan. 28, after entering Alford pleas under a plea agreement to charges related to what had been called an adoption scam.

Betty Jo Krenz, who is age 47 or 48, entered the pleas to charges of theft of property, a Class C felony, and theft of property, a Class B misdemeanor, in Southeast District Court in Jamestown. A charge of unauthorized use of identifying information was dropped.

Krenz was accused of taking money from a Medford, Ore., family under the guise of facilitating an adoption for them. The couple said they’d been trying to adopt a child for 18 years, according to authorities.

An Alford plea means the defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence to be convicted of the crime but does not admit to the crime.

The plea deal included a recommended sentence of one year and one day in jail with all but nine months suspended.

Krenz said in a statement to the court that “she knew in her heart she never meant to harm anyone.”

Judge Cherie Clark departed from the recommended sentence, instead sentencing Krenz to four years in the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on the felony charge and 30 days in the Stutsman County Correctional Center on the misdemeanor.

The sentences are to be served consecutively. Restitution to the victims of the scam is to be determined over the next 60 days and added to the sentence.

Clark said the victims had “lost more than money.”

“They lost trust and their ability to hope,” she said in passing sentence.”

North Dakota woman sentenced for adoption scam involving Oregon family

[Grand Fork Herald 1/28/19 by Keith Norman]

Update 2 :”Six months after receiving a more than four-year sentence, Betty Jo Krenz was released to a minimum-security rehabilitation center.

Krenz, 48, of Woodworth, pleaded guilty in January under the Alford plea, which means she acknowledged there was enough evidence to be convicted, but refused to admit to felony theft of property involving faking adoptions of Native children.

Krenz was released to the Centre in Fargo, or Centre, Inc., according to the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records. The Centre, Inc. is a private nonprofit facility that provides transitional living facilities for pre-release adults, helping inmates through substance abuse, home detention services, day reporting, community service programs, and job placement, according to the Centre in Fargo’s website.

Krenz attempted to sell Jodie Blackboy’s daughter, Julissa, without Blackboy’s knowledge to Autym Burke, a victim from Oregon. Krenz’s release from prison also upset her own daughter, Amber Schulz.

“I am sick of the justice system,” Schulz said on Facebook. “She is a con artist. She is manipulating and she has not received the help she has needed. I have been told women’s prison here in ND is overloaded, they took someone they considered ‘low risk’ and put them in a treatment center and back to the community. Anybody that truly knows Betty, knows she may not be violent, but she’s high risk for the community.”

Joshua Helmer, the executive director of the Centre, Inc. wouldn’t confirm that Krenz had been transferred.

“Since our facilities are also treatment facilities, there are steps we need to go through to confirm or deny a person’s status within our program and or to speak in regards to the circumstances surrounding them being referred to our facility/program,” Helmer said. “The first step, if that person is in one of our programs, would be to contact the referral source and inform them of the news media inquiry/request and get direction on how to process your request.”

Generally speaking not all residents at the Centre, Inc., are considered inmates, Helmer said.

“Most of our residents are permitted to leave the facility for employment, school, and other approved appointments/activites,” Helmer said. “There are strict accountability, sign out requirements that are monitored by staff. We conduct telephone and in person checks on residents when signed out in the community.”

Krenz was a former caseworker for the Spirit Lake Tribal Social Services until she was fired in 2011. She made national headlines about her work, including a 2014 campaign advertisement approved by Senator Kevin Cramer, and by speaking at a congressional subcommittee involving Cramer about her work at Spirit Lake.

During the time she was involved in faking adoptions, she frequently mentioned Cramer, and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, according to Autym Burke. Burke initially paid Krenz $1,800 in adoption fees, which were later mostly paid back.

Krenz was also a nominee for the 2017 L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth Award, but was not selected, according to L’Oreal management staff. She has a long criminal record involving forgery and writing bad checks, both under her current surname and former surname, Edland, according to North Dakota court records.

On September 27, 2017, the Spirit Lake Tribal Council banned Krenz from entering the Spirit Lake Reservation, tribal administration reported.

“It’s disturbing to know that she did not and will not receive any consequences to her actions and will not get any treatment for her,” Schulz said. “The victims get less rights than the convicted do as we get conflicting answers and will never get to see justice to what she has done to all her victims. She is already harassing the public. She is already back into her circle of manipulation and conning. It’s only a matter of time again.”

Why Krenz was moved or has received preferential treatment was not clear, but Michelle Linster, the public information officer for the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Krenz arrived from the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center.

“Ms. Krenz is currently serving for theft of property,” Linster said. “The ND DOCR has an obligation to place individuals in their custody with the least restrictive environment where public safety is concerned.”

The women’s Centre, Inc. facility in South Fargo resembles a modern condominium or small hotel. The front door is locked, and visitors have to be buzzed in.

Autym Burke said Krenz’s transfer was more than disappointing.

“I actually have seen some of her correspondence with people through text,” Burke said. “She’s up to the same old things. Trying to manipulate people to help her get some creature comforts while she is in there. It’s sad really. Here we all thought we had really done some good having her removed from society for awhile. We felt like morally we did some good there. Maybe protecting others. But now she has access to everything she needs and has used historically (phones, computers, social media) to victimize people. It’s just sad to me. Sad and disappointing really.”

“The only justice we get is her being publicly shamed,” Amber Schulz said. “And quite honestly, I don’t know if that is enough for me. After 30 years of this… you just learn how to deal with it I guess and I learn how to deal with it by being open about it.”

Native adoption scammer released to the Centre, Inc.

[HPR 7/1/19 by C.S. Hagen]