All language subtitles for FEDS.2023.S02E03.We.Sell.Babies.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

Hi there.
Good evening.

Happy Sunday.
My name is Tara.

We trusted her.
She was our friend.

- It's a boy!
- It's a boy?

I had met this baby
that I thought was mine.

Something didn't sit
right with me.

What are you hiding?

The more you peel back
the layers,

the more bizarre
the story's got.

The amount of people
that she had to lie to,

the quantity of lies.

Do we need to be scared?

We had no idea
of the scale

this scheme would rise to.

She's like selling babies
on the black market.

She is a brilliant monster.

It was devastating.

I truly knew in that moment

that my life would never
be the same.

I'm Special Agent
Matt Sluss, FBI.

I'm Intelligence Analyst
Nishawn Spiller, FBI Detroit.

When serious crime strikes,

the special agents
of the FBI answer the call.

Fidelity, bravery, integrity.

This...

is "FEDS."

Hey there, everyone.
It's me, Tara,

the founder and director of
Always Hope Pregnancy Center.

And we are live with you today
from our brand new office.

We're absolutely loving it.

We've got a really nice view
of the city now,

which makes me happy.

I met Kyle back in 2014
on a dating app.

We dated for a year,

and then he proposed to
me on a pier in Lake Michigan.

And then, a year after that,
we were married.

Kyle and I,
we are a same-sex couple,

and we really, really wanted
to have children.

We talked through all
the different options,

fostering is a great route,
but it wasn't gonna be for us.

Surrogacy, we didn't

know how to go about
that, right?

And adoption kinda just fell
into our lap as the best fit.

We went into the whole adoption
process with a lot of concerns.

We're a same-sex couple.
We're both males.

We heard horror stories
of them being very strict

and that you're gonna have
to wait years to go

and find an adoption.

But we were both willing
to fight for it.

We were talking to a friend
of ours, and it was recommended

that there was this woman,
Tara Lee, that had

an adoption agency
called "Always Hope."

It's been a minute since
we've given you an update,

and we wanted to bring you
another birth-mom story today.

And today with me, I have Alex,
and Alex's beautiful baby boy,

Landon, was born on March 14th.

We looked up
Always Hope and Tara Lee,

and what she was doing,
and it seemed legit.

So we actually met
and sat down with Tara.

We showed our concerns,
and she didn't see it

being a problem.

She was very chatty.
You could joke around with her.

Everything just
kind of looked right.

Curtis and I were
high school sweethearts,

and we always knew we wanted
a big family.

We had already had
four children,

but they were
very high-risk pregnancies.

And so we started looking
into adoption.

But Colorado is a very hard
state to adopt from.

We just weren't having luck.

We came across Tara Lee through
Facebook adoption groups.

And they had all loved Tara.

She was a mom of adopted kids.

And I thought, "Well,
if she can do it,

and I've heard good things
about her, then we can do it."

So, in a matter of three
months, we are now matched

with a baby.

We talked with the birth mom,

got to know
each other a little bit.

When we were matched,
we signed paperwork.

We did have to put money down
for birth mother expenses--

rents, utilities, gas, food,

anything that the birth mother
could need.

In addition to that, legal fees

and tariffs fee.

And then Tara took control
of all of it.

So we went
to doctor's appointments

with the birth mom.

We were there the day we found
the sex of the baby.

It was great.

Everything that we could have
hoped for.

Today with me, I have Alex.

And she's with us today
to tell you her story.

So I'm gonna hand it over
to Alex.

Hi.

So August of last year, I found
out that I was pregnant.

It was only a week
later that she had called me

and said that she had had
a birth mom that she thought

that we would match well with.

We were excited, and the first
thing she said was,

"Now I need money."

At that point, she asked
for $3,000.

We knew that that was part
of the process.

That's just how adoption works.

OK, this is
the gender reveal.

- Should I go?
- Go.

We had a gender reveal party
with our kids.

Three...

- Oh, wait, is it a girl?
- It's a girl?

It's a girl?

- It's a boy!
- It's a boy?

We were starting
to get ready and excited.

The best thing.

In June, our son was born.

Holding him that first time,

and just having that little life

in your hands

was amazing.
And Tara did it.

She did exactly what she said
she would do.

It was all because of her.

The baby actually came
a month early, and so we got

a phone call from Tara saying,
"She's in labor,

she's at the hospital, you need
to get on a plane now."

And we flew to Detroit.

And she took us to the hospital,
and we were walked to the NICU.

The birth mom said,
"Here's your son."

Tara said, "Here's your son."

We took photos and videos
and sent them to the kids,

introduced him as if he were
their little brother.

And on the way back
to the hotel,

we got a phone call from Tara

saying that the birth mom was
changing her mind.

Families know that adoptions
can fail.

Nothing is guaranteed.

But I had met this baby
that I thought was mine,

but wasn't mine.

We were in the parking lot.

And I just dropped to my knees,
because I knew

it was over.
At that point.

That's it.
I'm done.

And I just wanted to go home.

I had actually thought I had
built a friendship with Tara.

I still believed in her.

I was matched with another
birth mom.

And Tara was asking for more
money right away.

And if you questioned her
on that, she would say,

"Well, if you don't pay this
money, you may lose this match."

The birth mother had asked me
to come out for the delivery.

And I was the first one
to hold the baby.

And Tara was
in the birth mom's room

talking to her.

And it was the next morning
that we tried to go back

to the hospital to see the baby.
And we learned that...

the birth mom had told
the hospital,

"Do not allow Cortney
to my room."

It was devastating.

Mad at myself for allowing
it to happen again.

And it was also the feeling
of betrayal from Tara.

Something's just not right.
This is not how this works.

I met this woman online,
named Sarah.

She actually had a failed
adoption before with Tara.

We related in a lot of ways.

It felt like she'd been through
the same experience.

So we started a Facebook group,
a private Facebook group

that started out
with three families.

In a month, it was 20 families,
and then in a couple months,

it was 100 families.

Far bigger than
we ever imagined.

It was really hard
to believe at first.

More than one of them had been
matched with one woman.

So this one woman and Tara were
promising this one baby

to three different families
at the same time.

Who thinks of that?
Just disgusting.

At the time of this case,
I had been an FBI agent

for about one year.

I was assigned to our complex
financial crime squad,

where I investigate an array
of financial crimes.

This unit is comprised
of very talented,

experienced individuals
trying to uncover

highly complex fraud.

Some of the common things
we'd investigate would be--

romance scams,
business email compromise,

embezzlement,
and corporate securities

and commodities fraud.

Unfortunately, scams are
pretty common

across the United States.

In October of 2018,
an individual

who was closely associated

with Tara Lee's
adoption practice came forward

and brought information
to the FBI that there appeared

to be some irregularities
with Tara's adoption process.

And some of those irregularities

were alleged to potentially
be fraudulent.

Adoption fraud is not something
that I had heard of

prior to this case.

So we talked
with the United States
Attorney's Office up front.

Matt Sluss said, "We're hearing
some pretty wild allegations

"about adoptions taking place
in Michigan, that Tara Lee

"double matched prospective
adoptive parents

with birth mothers."

I was, you know,
shocked and appalled.

Even without knowing
that much about adoption law,

I could tell
that that's not right.

We learned that Tara Lee
was a mom

and that she seemed to have
started to engage in adoptions

in this unconventional way,
driven by her Facebook page.

And it really accelerated
over the years.

We learned that she did
have successful adoptions.

Always Hope was
a registered business

with the state of Michigan,
but Lee was not licensed

to provide those services.

And it appeared that Lee was
engaging in more fraud

than successful adoptions.

This appears to be a wire fraud
scheme, based on adoptions.

We need to investigate.
We need to investigate quickly.

We interview dozens of victims,

and it starts to snowball.

They took it very seriously.

They came to our house,
other families' houses.

They were calling families.

We gave the FBI everything
that we had found.

You could hear the pain
in their voice, in their words,

how Tara would draw them in
to these adoption matches,

would make them feel real
to them, how she would collect

her fees, and would hear
their stories about how then

Tara would fail the match.

She would tell
simple stories, such as--

your birth mother miscarried

or your birth mother
changed her mind.

Things that are very plausible
to the victims,

so they wouldn't
grow suspicious.

The fraud here was so blatant

and, in many ways,

just a classic scam.

It is common to see
that a fraudster,

they start by building
rapport with you.

Lee was very good

at being charismatic,
being believable.

Lee would make it seem like
there was this close bond.

We shared everything with Tara.

We trusted her.

She became one
of our closest friends.

So now you trust them,
you believe them,

and then they use that trust
to exploit you.

She said, "Hey, guys,
your son's birth mother is

"pregnant again,
and are you guys interested

in adopting another child?"

"You'll be a great match.
You'll be a great match.

So pay today.
Pay today."

And so we wrote her
a giant check.

And we were head over heels.

She was giving us updates
multiple times a day.

We talked all the time.

We start to see that pattern.

That kind of over-the-top
communication.

Love bombing.

In May of that year,

the birth mom decided that
she was gonna keep the baby.

We knew it was gonna be
a little girl.

I never knew
I wanted a daughter

until it was in front
of my face.

And Tara saw that.
Tara knew that.

A savvy criminal
is able to defraud

the same victim multiple times.

And Tara said, "Listen,

"I'm on board, I'm here
to help you guys.

"I have birth moms and different
opportunities coming up

all the time."

So there was always hope
that this was gonna happen.

She lets them down.
They're disappointed.

"I'm sorry that
that one didn't work,

"but I have another one for you.

"I'll be able to use some
of the money that you already

gave me, but I'm gonna
need some more."

And so we sent Tara the money.

But we never heard from
this birth mother again.

There was no offer
for money to come back.

It was over.

Just like that.

We had a wealth of information
coming in to us,

and in a short amount of time.

The list of victims grew.

We had a map
of the United States,

and we were putting a star
on each state where there was

a victim associated with Lee.

I thought...

"This is getting much bigger."

We're so convinced
that there's fraud going on,

so, we moved to how do we get
the evidence we need to prove

what's really going on here.

We need to investigate actual
adoptions in process.

My husband and I met 13 years
ago on a dating app.

We've been married
almost 10 years.

We knew that we wanted
to start having kids right away,

and it didn't work out
really well for us,

so we went straight
into adoption.

Hi, there.
My name is Tara, and I am

the owner and director of
Always Hope Pregnancy Center.

A week after we signed,
we were matched.

Tara said to me, "I need you
to send me two credit card

transactions, one for $8,000
for Sheila,

"which is our birth mother, one
for $5,000 for my services.

$3,000 would be due
after the baby was born."

And then, in addition to that,
we would have attorney's fees,

close to $10,000.

She told us, "She's due
in two weeks."

In hindsight, I, you know,

feel like there were red flags.

At the time, I didn't.

I just... We didn't have
experience with it.

I didn't know.

And that's when all hell
broke loose.

I get an email from one
of the referral agencies

that we had signed with,
and it said, "Has anyone here

worked with Tara Lee
and Always Hope?"

I called Tanya, one
of the attorneys that we are

paying to do our adoption.

And she said,
"You cannot tell anyone

what I'm about to tell you."

She said, "Tara Lee is under
FBI investigation

"for double matching families

and matching families to babies
that don't exist."

And I just lost it.

I could not

keep myself together.

We're just, like, we don't know
what to believe.

Mike called the FBI.

He said, "I don't know
what to do."

"Is our birth mom involved
in this?

Do we need to be scared?"

They're asking us,
"What should I do?"

Now, at this point, we don't
know if their match is real.

We don't know
if it's a double match.

We don't know if the entire
thing is fabricated.

We started to realize
that there were times

that she made up women
that didn't exist.

There was a situation where
Tara told an adoptive parents

that their pregnant birth
mother had been shot and killed

and that their baby died
in utero.

But in reality, there is no
birth mother at all.

There's no pregnancy.
The whole thing is fabricated.

Lee even asked one
of the prospective parents

to cover funeral costs.

It started to sink in
just how outlandish,

how cruel the fraud here was.

Mike called the attorney
and asked her, "What do we do?"

and she said,
"Get in the car and drive up."

But you cannot let Tara know
anything that's going on.

Otherwise, that'll interfere
with the FBI investigation.

You have to pretend
everything is good.

Tara was waiting for us
at the hospital.

Our birth mom was already
in a room.

They had her hooked up.

And so I was like, "Oh,
thank God, she's real!"

You know, "It is really real."

I'd never known anybody
who's done this before,

putting their child up
for adoption.

I was scared.

We were living paycheck
to paycheck.

Everything was just
falling apart.

How I met Tara

is I got her phone number
from a therapist.

Tara came to my house,
she was nice, she was pretty,

she seemed like she cared.

Tara made a lot
of promises to me.

"Your bills are gonna get taken
care of, rent's gonna be paid,

utilities," you know,
groceries, anything I need,

my pregnancy, you know?

That's her way of,
you know, luring you in.

At that point, I felt like
our birth mom wasn't involved,

but I still wasn't sure.

We didn't know who to trust
during this.

Mike and I wanted time
to just talk with her,

and Tara would not
give us that time.

And then the first thing
that Tara said to me was,

"You know that you owe me,
you know, $3,000."

The worst part was
when I went into labor,

because Tara, the whole time
I'm, like, in labor,

all she keeps telling me is
that she wants more money

from Teresa and Michael.

Want me to tell them they need
to give her more money.

And I was like, "What?"

The next day,
the baby was born.

I couldn't contain myself.

He was the most beautiful thing
I've ever seen.

But he was tiny.
He was sick.

So he wasn't doing very well.
It was very difficult.

And Tara comes in behind us
and immediately starts asking

for the money again.

At one point, Mike and I were
downstairs eating and we were

walking back up and we just
so happened to run into Sheila

and we took that opportunity to,
you know, just talk with her.

And I told her, I said,
"She's up there yelling at me,"

telling me if they're not
paying her the money,

then they're not
getting the baby.

I just couldn't believe it.

And then we learned
that none of their utilities

had been paid.

They owed $1,000
on their electric bill.

And our birth mom did not
have a coat.

Teresa noticed it right away.
She asked me where my coat was.

- So I didn't have one.
- She didn't have proper shoes.

It was, you know, winter
in Michigan, and she didn't have

clothes.

We were in complete shock.

You know, we had given
her $8,000 for Sheila.

And in that moment,
we knew that Tara had not given

her the money.

She's a terrible person.

We began to discover birth
mothers being neglected

while Tara is promising
care and counseling

that they're just not receiving.

The prospective parents
were paying a lot of money,

for the birth mothers that went
straight to Lee's pocket.

The paranoia, the anxiety,
it was just, it was terrible.

We stayed at that NIC
unit night and day.

We joined the private Facebook
group with all of the families.

And then there's a picture
that comes up of our son

that was just born.

And we found out that

you know, Tara was trying
to adopt our son out

to other families while we were
in the hospital.

So then it was like panic.

At this point
in the investigation,

we began to learn a lot more
about Tara's relationship

with the actual birth mothers.

Tara was very manipulative.
She was very coercive.

That's Tara's house over there.

It's been a long time
since I have been back here.

When I walked in the house
the first time,

I knew something was going on.

First thing I noticed,
there's like six girls pregnant

at this table,

and they were eating
Hungry Howie's pizza and pop.

Tara says to me, "Oh, these are
girls from out of state."

So I was like, "What the heck?"

And she had a big camper
in the back.

And a couple of them were
staying in the camper.

And I was just like,
"What the hell?"

It's just, it's wintertime,
you know?

And these girls are getting
ready to have a baby,

and she's got them in a camper.

It's like selling babies
on the black market.

She went after girls that were
desperate, that didn't have

any other way out
of the situation.

Tara advertised herself
at local jails.

She would advertise herself
at methadone clinics.

She would exploit people
that had deep vulnerabilities

in order to manipulate them
to do what she wanted them to do

so she could profit.

And then I found out that Tara
was doing more than I thought

she was doing, like,
terrible, terrible stuff.

One of the girls wasn't even
frickin' pregnant, and she was

pretending she was,
and Tara was paying her to lie.

There was a lot of rumor
surrounding Tara Lee,

that she was manipulating
people to lie.

But it wasn't concrete evidence

that a crime had been committed.

But then we got a very
compelling piece of evidence.

We were able to obtain a copy
of a telephone call.

An individual brought
this information to our office.

This was a three-way telephone
call hosted by Tara Lee,

where Tara had a call
with a adoptive parent,

and Tara had another individual
named Enhelica Wiggins

on the call, pretending to be
somebody else, pretending to be

a different birth mother
named Chantal.

Tara had actually asked a woman
to pretend to be pregnant.

We know that
she's not pregnant.

I thought...

"Wow, Lee's actually
doing this."

That was a turning point.

It was concrete evidence
that a crime had been committed.

We're ready to go to the next
stage in the investigation.

We can search her house.

We knock on her door.

Tara comes to her door,
and she answers.

And we execute a search warrant
of Tara Lee's residence.

We talk to her about
her business, which then slowly

evolves into us asking
her about more specifics.

And through this conversation,

it becomes clear
that Tara is lying.

Families across the country are
reeling after learning

the woman who promised
them babies isn't licensed

by the state to do
adoption work.

We saw them taking boxes
and boxes of material out.

FBI agents searched this home
in New Haven, Michigan.

How did this happen?

One of the most significant
pieces of evidence

that we collected that morning
was Tara Lee's cell phone.

We found exactly what
we were hoping for.

Text message
conversations between herself

and numerous sets
of adoptive parents.

Text messages between herself
and birth mothers.

We were able to obtain copies
of bank statements.

Trying to uncover what
the money was that she was

making and then what she did
with that money.

Many of the victims,
the dollar amounts

that they had lost ranged from
$9,000 to upwards of $55,000.

And we identified
70 birth mothers,

160 prospective adoptive parents
across 24 states.

After thoroughly analyzing
Tara Lee's financial activity,

we discover Tara has yielded

$2.1 million in proceeds
from her fraudulent adoptions.

Tara Lee profited millions
of dollars by exploiting

extremely vulnerable people.

And she spent the money
on essentially spoiling herself

with jewelry,
and purses and shoes.

Luxury watches,
bracelets, all kinds of jewelry.

Really, really expensive items.
There were just stacks of them.

Of course, that money
was intended to go

to birth mothers, and knowing
that she spent it on herself is

quite appalling.

After the FBI raided her house,
Kyle and I were both in shock.

And being
that we were her friend,

we called her.

She talked her way out of
and explained her way out of

everything that came up.

And we told everybody,
"She was innocent."

We still trusted her.

So we stayed on board,
and Tara said, "Listen,

we can find you another baby."

At this point in time,
in our new attempts to adopt

a second child, we've already
paid $38,000.

But we just kind of went along,

'Cause, you know,
she was looking out for us.

We got a call from Tara,
and we got matched

with another birth mom.

So we were six weeks
in the hospital.

It was absolute torture.

We had a sick baby,
and there was delay

in the legal part of it.
We had been there for so long.

I was terrified that he was
gonna be taken away.

We wanted another child.
We're gonna grow our family.

She stopped
communicating with us.

It was impossible to get
her to answer any questions.

So we thought Tara had
no intention of us

adopting our son.

She was texting with us.

There was communication
back and forth.

We had trusted her through
this whole year.

She was our friend.

We got the call.

Our attorneys called us.

I truly knew
in that moment that...

that my life would never
be the same.

We took a call from the lawyer.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't
a nervous wreck.

Our attorneys said,
"Are you ready

to come home with a baby?"

Tears, you know,
emotions, crying.

Sorry.

I think he was only six pounds
when he left the hospital.

And so, we got a little,
you know,

his little coming-home outfit.

We were so happy and it
was beautiful.

The lawyer told us
that our fourth match...

was also a scam.

And it was over.

And now we just had to pick
up the pieces.

She didn't really care
about any of us.

She is a brilliant monster.

Tara Lee faced a federal
judge today as she was charged

with wire fraud.

We arrested Tara Lee.

We indicted her
with 23 counts of wire fraud

and one count
of aggravated identity theft.

This 31-page criminal complaint
against her was just unsealed.

The allegations in here
are shocking.

Lee pleaded guilty to charges
of fabricated matches

and misappropriation
of adoption service fees.

The judge was angry.

He sentenced her to 10 years
in prison.

But he said to her,

"I wish I could give you life."

It was my hope, and the hope
of our whole investigative team,

that that sentence would bring
some sort of solace

to the victims,
some sort of peace of mind.

We did manage to adopt two more
children after this.

We completed our family
that way.

We actually did end up adopting
a second child

through a different
legitimate agency.

Baby girl.

After a few years,
we got another call.

Our birth mom was pregnant
again, and she asked us

to adopt

her baby again.

And now we have
a two-and-a-half year old
little boy.

I talk to them all the time.

I'm involved
in the kids' lives.

They see my mom.
They see my family.

I never met anybody better
than Teresa and Michael.

They're like the best people
I've ever met in my life.

- Hi.
- Hi, how are you?

- Good, how are you?
- Good.

- Great to see you.
- Great to see you.

We've got close
with a lot of people.

Teresa and Mike

and Adam and Kyle.

Oh, you got me.

All of a sudden, we had
people that

understood and could relate,

and were going through
the same thing.

All of the heartbreak
that we all went through,

I could not have gotten through
this without any of you guys.

I'm gonna cry.
I really couldn't have.

Right off the bat, it felt
natural and comfortable.

I never felt awkward
with you guys at all.

All the kids call each other
cousins, and...

just one big happy family.

Yeah.

I wouldn't have it
any other way.

Yeah.

She didn't destroy us.

She didn't end all
of our dreams and hopes.

We made those still happen.

Next time on FEDS...

I said I need you
to open the vault

and get out $200,000.

Do what we ask you to
and nobody's going to get hurt.

This was clearly different

than every bank robbery
that I've ever worked.

She said
"It's my job on the line."

and I said "I don't care about
your job."