Lawyer threatened Tarrant inmate who wouldn’t sell her baby after $846 payment: warrant
A Texas attorney who was arrested on charges of attempting to buy the unborn children of Tarrant County inmates led an adoption agency whose accreditation for international services was canceled in 2019.
Jody Hall, 68 — a family and immigration attorney — was booked into the Hays County Jail on July 23 on two Tarrant County warrants, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
The warrants were served at Hall’s home in Kyle, about 20 miles south of Austin. She faces two felony charges of sale or purchase of a child.
Authorities began investigating her and her business, Adoptions International Inc., on May 28 in connection to unethical adoption practices. Detectives discovered Hall was paying money to pregnant Tarrant County inmates so they would place their unborn children up for adoption through her agency, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
In arrest warrant affidavits obtained by the Star-Telegram, a detective wrote that Hall paid more than $800 into one woman’s jail accounts, and the payments stopped when the woman changed her mind about giving up the child. Hall called the woman a “scammer” and threatened to talk to the prosecutor over the woman’s case, in text messages reviewed by the detective, the affidavit states.
Hall sent $250 to another woman and offered to pay her $2,500 when she got out of jail, according to the affidavits.
Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
Here’s what we know about the case so far.
Jody Hall’s adoption agency
Hall graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in government before going onto study law at Texas Tech in the 1980s, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Prior to founding Adoptions International, Hall worked as legal counsel for Med-Care Management Inc, a medical cost management company.
Adoptions International was founded in 1995 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to the agency’s website. Over 1,200 children have been placed into “loving homes” through Hall’s business, the website says.
The website goes on to describe Hall as “an expert in all immigration and legal aspects of the international adoption process” who “is actively involved in each and every adoption case we handle.”
“We are for the family that wants an agency that is committed to provide individual, ethical, professional and transparent adoptions for each and every family,” the website says.
The agency also sought to adopt children from many foreign countries including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Macedonia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the website reads.
However, the cancellation of the agency’s accreditation blocked Hall’s business from providing services for international adoptions.
Investigators’ findings
The accreditation of Adoptions International was canceled in August 2019 for “failing to maintain substantial compliance with accreditation standards,” according to the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity, which is designated by the US. State Department to accredit agencies.
Her suspension from international adoptions came after Hall was arranging adoptions in 2019 involving mothers being flown in from the Marshall Islands, through Hawaii, in defiance of a treaty between the two nations, according to Hawaiian publication Civil Beat.
Hall wrote to prospective adoptive parents that it was legal to pay for women from the Marshall Islands to fly to the U.S. for adoptions, which conflicts with the laws outlined by the Marshallese government and the IAAME, according to Civil Beat’s report.
In the Tarrant County investigation, Hall sent messages to female inmates and deposited money into their commissary accounts in exchange for plans to acquire their unborn children for adoption purposes, according to arrest warrants. Her communication with inmates showed she would send adoption packets and provide financial support for inmates on the assumption that they would not “scam her,” the warrants say.
In text messages to one inmate’s jail-issued tablet, Hall asked the woman to put her in contact with the child’s father to have him sign a document giving up his parental rights, according to the warrant.
The detective wrote that Hall also sent a message to the inmate that said, “I don’t need birth moms that lie to me just to get financial support. And I can’t give you anymore if he’s not willing to sign the paperwork. That means he wants the baby if he is the father.”
Transactions show the 29-year-old woman received a total of $846 from Hall, according to the warrant.
She stopped receiving payments on May 6, after she decided to keep the baby, the detective wrote in the affidavit. In another message, Hall called the inmate a liar, a drug addict, and a “scammer,” and threatened to tell the prosecutor over the woman’s case that she scammed the prospective family who wanted to adopt her child, the warrant says.
Hall began communicating with another woman after the first adoption fell through, according to a second affidavit.
The attorney learned about that 24-year-old woman from another inmate and, according to the warrant, Hall wrote to the woman, saying, “I’ve helped a lot of girls like yourself. We have families who cannot have children that would love to adopt your child. It will be an open adoption where you will get pictures and learn how the child is doing as they grow up. If you have family members that can take the child, that is great. Or if you will be out of jail by the time the child is born, that is great too. But if you still won’t be in a position to raise a child, or have a friend or family that can take the child, we can help you even when you’re not in jail. You can pick a family and start communicating with them now. We will put $100 weekly on your books and you can spend part of it on your tablet or whatever you wish to buy. What about the birth father of the baby? Is he around?”
Hall paid the 24-year-old woman $250 between May and July, according to the affidavit, and said she would give her $100 a week for 25 weeks “wherever you go” if the inmate signed documents to relinquish the child.
“I have a family ready to go ... You will love them,” Hall wrote in one message, according to the affidavit. “AND, you will have 2500 dollars when you get out, or if you want me to put some on your books each week, I can do that. It’s up to you.”
It’s unclear from the documents whether the woman gave birth to a child.
What does the law say about paying for adoption?
According to Texas state law regarding the charge of sale or purchase of a child, a person violates the law if they offer or agree to accept a thing of value for the delivery of the child for the purposes of adoption.
The placement of a child for adoption is only permitted through legally authorized child-placing agencies, according to the law. Fees can be paid to attorneys, social workers, mental health professionals or physicians for services in the adoptive process such as legal or adoption counseling and medical practice, the Texas Penal Code states.
Payments to parents or guardians also are permitted if they are part of a reimbursement of legal or medical expenses incurred by a person for the benefit of the child or a necessary pregnancy-related expense paid by a child-placing agency for the benefit of the biological parent, during or after the birth of the child, as outlined by the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
According to the arrest warrants, investigators believe that the money Hall sent to inmates was not for necessary pregnancy-related expenses and is not allowed by the law.
Tarrant County Jail inmates can receive money through two types of accounts, according to the warrants. One type pays for time on the tablet devices, which inmates can use to communicate, access the internet or watch movies. The other account is for commissary items such as food and personal hygiene products.
The detective said he believes those accounts don’t meet the exceptions under the law because the jail already pays for “all necessary pregnancy-related and living expenses of their inmates,” according to the affidavits.
Violation of this law constitutes a third-degree felony.
This story was originally published August 1, 2024 at 5:25 PM.
