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One of the operators of Focus on Children in Utah pleaded not guilty Monday to felony charges that he duped birth parents in Samoa into giving their children to the Utah-based private adoption agency.
Dan Wakefield, 70, a U.S. citizen who has lived on the Pacific island for extended periods, entered his plea before Magistrate Samuel Alba in Salt Lake City. Alba ordered Wakefield to surrender his passport to the court until the case is resolved, but he did not detain him.
The magistrate also ruled that Wakefield, who is living in American Fork with his sister, is eligible for a court-appointed attorney.
A 135-count indictment unsealed Thursday accuses Focus on Children (FOC) and seven of its operators of lying to both birth parents and prospective adoptive parents.
The defendants allegedly told Samoan residents that their children would be temporarily placed in the United States to be educated and would return when they reached adulthood. The parents in the United States allegedly were told that the children were orphans and that the placements were permanent.
Federal authorities say the FOC scam involved about 81 children from 40 to 45 birth families. Approximately 10 of those were placed in Utah and the rest in other states.
The scam allegedly began no later than March 2002 and operated until June 2005.
The charges against FOC has caused anxiety on both sides of the adoption equation. On Friday, Brett Tolman, the U.S. attorney for Utah, stressed that his office "has no interest in taking children away from adoptive parents." The office is working to put birth parents and adoptive parents in touch, he said.
Prosecutors allege that Wakefield worked as a recruiter in Samoa, actively soliciting and coercing birth parents into relinquishing their children.
At the time the indictment was unsealed last week, the U.S. Attorney's Office believed Wakefield was living in Samoa. However, Wakefield called the office over the weekend to say he was back in Utah and appeared as directed at Monday's hearing, according to Dustin Pead, an assistant U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case.
The other defendants besides FOC and Wakefield are Scott Banks, 46, of Wellsville; Karen Banks, 45, Wellsville; Tagaloa Ieti, 44, Samoa; Julie Tuiletufuga, age unknown, Samoa; Coleen Bartlett, 40, Evanston, Wyo.; and Karalee Thornock, 34, Tooele.
Scott Banks, Karen Banks, Bartlett and Thornock had court appearances last week before U.S. Magistrate David Nuffer in Salt Lake City. The government did not seek their detention pending resolution of the case. The next hearing for them and Wakefield is scheduled for April 2.
The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Samoa. It will petition the Samoan government to deliver the other three defendants to U.S. jurisdiction.
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