Friday, January 9, 2004
Second woman is charged in Cambodian adoptions
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A celebrated international humanitarian -- who now stands accused of cashing in on the misery of dirt-poor, Third World families -- turned herself in yesterday to federal agents and prosecutors on a mission to clean up global trafficking of Cambodian "orphans."
The case involves allegations of bribery, profiteering and falsification of documents. And all, court documents say, came in an effort to portray children as orphans or abandoned, rather than babies available for the right price.
For adoptive parents of Cambodian children, the allegations are chilling. So is not knowing what really happened. One Whidbey Island couple adopted two children from Cambodia. Now the children's birth mother claims she was tricked into giving the girls up. But she could also have sold them.
That adoption was handled by Lauryn Galindo, 52, of Kauai, Hawaii. She turned herself in yesterday and became the second person charged in federal court in the investigation. Galindo's sister, Lynn Devin, 50, of Mercer Island, pleaded guilty to visa fraud and money laundering last month as part of the investigation code-named "Operation Broken Hearts."....
For remaining article:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/155944_adopt09.html
