North Texas woman among 3 accused of bribes to arrange adoptions from Uganda, Poland
A Texas woman was among three people charged in a 13-count federal indictment and accused of arranging adoptions of children from Uganda and Poland by bribing Ugandan officials and defrauding U.S. adoptive parents, U.S. authorities and a Polish regulatory agency.
The Texas woman also played a role in one of the most horrific child abuse cases in North Texas, where the woman’s adult son used a Barbie doll to cause severe trauma to the private parts of his 5-year-old adopted daughter, authorities said. The girl was adopted from the agency where the Texas woman worked.
The indictment identified the suspects as Debra Parris, 68, of Lake Dallas, Texas; Margaret Cole, 73, of Strongsville, Ohio; and Dorah Mirembe, 41, of Kampala, Uganda. Cole was the executive director of European Adoption Consultants, and the other two worked for the company.
The three were charged last week in Ohio, where the now closed European Adoption Consultants had been operating. The company was based in Strongsville, Ohio.
“These three defendants preyed on the emotions of parents, those wanting the best for their child, and those wishing to give what they thought was an orphaned child a family to love,” said Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith of the FBI’s Cleveland field office in a news release. “These defendants allegedly lied to both sides of the adoption process, and bribed Ugandan officials who were responsible for the welfare of the children. Parents, prospective parents and children were emotionally vested and were heartbroken when they learned of the selfishness and greed in which these three engaged.”
Cole was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements.
According to the indictment, Parris, who was responsible for managing the agency’s Uganda adoption program, has been charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Mirembe is a citizen of Uganda, and according to court records, handled EAC’s legal representation and adoption-related services to the agency’s clients in Uganda and has been charged with the following: conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering.
Another Texas woman and an employee at European Adoption Consultants, Robin Longoria, 58, of Mansfield, is scheduled to be sentenced in October in a Ohio federal courtroom for her role in the scheme.
The State Department said the agency operated adoption programs in Bulgaria, China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Honduras, India, Panama, Tanzania and Ukraine, as well as Poland and Uganda, according to cleveland.com.
The indictment alleges that in the Ugandan scheme Parris and Mirembe, together with others, engaged in a scam to pay bribes to Ugandan officials to corruptly procure the adoption of Ugandan children by families in the United States, including the adoption of kids who were not properly determined to be orphaned.
The bribes were paid to social welfare officers, Ugandan magistrate judges and court registrars.
According to the indictment, the co-conspirators and the entities they worked for received more than $900,000 in connection with the adoptions.
In the Poland scheme, the indictment alleges that after clients of their adoption agency determined they could not care for one of two Polish children they were set to adopt, Cole and Parris took steps to transfer the child to Parris’ relatives, who were not eligible for inter-country adoption.
The girl was adopted in 2015 to John Tufts, who is Parris’ son and lived in North Texas.
The Dallas Observer reported the girl told investigators that a bad guy “hurt my vagina and booty and they make it red” but she refused to identify him, according to Tufts’ arrest warrant affidavit.
Tufts was charged in Denton with injury to a child — serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony. According to the affidavit, he “intentionally and knowingly caused injury to [the child] by inserting a Barbie doll into her vaginal and anal area.” Tufts’ wife was also charged.
John Tufts was sentenced to 28 years in prison in March 2019, according to Denton County criminal court records. In July 2019, his now ex-wife, Georgiana Tufts, was sentenced to 10 years of probation with 90 days in jail and 240 community service hours as conditions of that probation, according to court records.
After the girl was abused, the Ohio federal indictment alleges that Cole and Parris took steps to conceal their improper conduct from U.S. agencies and Polish authorities.
