Tuesday, August 22, 2006
ASUNCION, Paraguay — A man known as "Superpapa" who says he took advantage of a quirk in German laws to adopt more than 300 children worldwide has been arrested on suspicion of violating laws on child rearing in Paraguay, authorities said Tuesday.
Jurgen Ernst Hass, a German citizen whose claims were widely published in the European media, was picked up Monday at a hotel in the city of Caaguazu and taken to a jail in the capital of Asuncion, about 140 miles east, according to a police statement.
Police said Hass, 56, was turned over to the courts for investigation of reported attempts to adopt dozens of Paraguayan children and would be called for initial questioning in coming days.
Hass, dubbed "Superpapa" by the local press, drew attention with public boasts of numerous adoptions around the world.
Police said Hass acknowledged taking steps to adopt some 30 Paraguayan children with the intent of taking them to Germany to collect a government subsidy of $260 a month for each under Germany's child protection laws....
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