Baby smuggling at Philippines airport was part of an illegal adoption: authorities

An American woman is facing life in prison for brokering an illegal adoption online with a teenage girl from the Philippines and trying to smuggle the 6-day-old boy out of the country, officials said.

Jennifer Erin Talbot, 43, was busted on Wednesday as she allegedly tried to board a Detroit-bound flight at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila with the Filipino infant hidden in a sling bag.

Talbot, who says she has five children and owns a home in Sandy, Utah, was paraded before the media in handcuffs on Thursday as she was charged with human trafficking and kidnapping.

“The child’s situation must have been very difficult during the time that he was put inside that bag,” said Auralyn Pascual, a spokeswoman for the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation.

Security-camera images released by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration show the carry-on bag in which the boy was allegedly being held slung behind Talbot’s body as she sneaked past Filipino immigration officials.

“She passed the immigration counter without declaring the baby, so they did not see the baby because she was carrying the baby inside a sling bag,” National Bureau Investigation chief Manuel Dimaano said Thursday.

But she was intercepted at the gate to her Delta Air Lines flight at around 6:20 a.m., when the baby was spotted by airline workers, Dimaano said.

She allegedly tried to claim she was the baby’s aunt, but officials saw through the ruse.

“She was intercepted by Delta Air staff because they saw the baby and she was asked about any travel documents,” Dimaano said, according to local outlets.

“None was presented, so the Delta Air staff contacted the immigration officers.”

Delta declined to comment, deferring to Philippine authorities.

Photos taken after she was stopped showed a dejected Talbot cradling the boy at the airport Wednesday. He was turned over to government welfare personnel.

The bureau said on Thursday that charges were filed against her for human trafficking, child abuse, kidnapping and illegal detention.

Talbot, wearing an orange detainee shirt and handcuffs, was emotional at a Thursday press conference that she was forced to attend as officials announced the charges. As media outlets snapped photos, she wiped away tears.

The baby’s mother, Maricris Dulap, told officials that she met Talbot online and discussed a possible adoption, NBC News and CNN Philippines reported.

“She browsed through the internet, and she stumbled upon the subject,” Dimaano told reporters.

Talbot then flew to stay with 19-year-old Dulap in the southern city of Davao to await the child’s birth, officials said. It was unclear whether money was exchanged.

Officials are investigating how Talbot traveled with the baby out of Davao, which requires clearance for infants to leave the city with a foreigner.

Talbot had a notarized affidavit of her intention to adopt the child, but the paperwork didn’t have Dulap’s signature.

It was unclear what Talbot’s motive was for sneaking the child out of the country, but she told officials that she “just wanted to give the baby a name and a church blessing,” according to CNN Philippines.

Dr. Kim Mehlman-Orzoco, a human-trafficking expert, said countries like the Philippines have become more vigilant about foreigners smuggling children out of their borders.

“We do know there is a trend of people from industrialized countries — including the United States — in pursuit of children as either domestic slaves or servants or sex trafficking, and they do this here because they see this as more marginalized country,” he said.

Noting the attention surrounding Talbot’s arrest, Mehlman-Orzoco said governments create such a spectacle as a way to warn foreigners against committing such crimes.

“Instead of having a reputation of where you can go to victimize children, they’re taking a stand to show if you come here that we will persecute you,” he told The Post.

Officials said they were searching for Dulap and the baby’s father, who is unknown, after the two were charged under a child-protection law.

A person who answered the phone at Talbot’s home in Utah declined to comment. Talbot doesn’t have a lawyer, but US Embassy officials were notified of her arrest.

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