Ex-Strongsville adoption agency owner sentenced for fraudulent adoption of Polish girl, who was ‘brutally’ raped
CLEVELAND, Ohio— A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the former owner of a now-defunct Strongsville adoption agency to three months in prison for her lying to U.S. and Polish authorities about the adoption of a 5-year-old girl from Poland, whose caregiver later violently raped her.
Margaret Cole, the owner of European Adoption Consultants, will also spend a year on house arrest after she serves her prison term and must pay a $7,500 fine.
U.S. District Judge James Gwin sentenced Cole to far less than the two years in prison and a $90,000 fine sought by prosecutors. Cole’s defense attorneys argued for probation. Gwin also allowed Cole to self-report to prison.
“I’m really sorry for what happened, but I worked for 24 years to help 8,000 families,” Cole said. “The children were the joy of my life.”
Gwin said he factored in the 74-year-old’s age and health issues before handing down his sentence.
Cole, who has two malignant brain tumors among other health issues, said during the hearing that she founded in the company in 1991 after her daughter died of sudden infant death syndrome.
About a dozen people who used Cole’s agency to adopt attended the hearing, and two spoke to the judge, including Alex Rokakis, a retired assistant U.S. attorney.
Rokakis said he adopted his son from the former Soviet Union through Cole’s agency and asked the judge for a lighter sentence for Cole.
“She’s made over 8,000 lives better,” Rokakis said. “Without her, my own son may have been forced into the Russian army and be fighting in Ukraine right now.”
Two of Cole’s employees also pleaded guilty to federal charges in the FBI’s investigation into the company, which included uncovering a separate scheme regarding the bribery of Ugandan officials to facilitate adoptions.
Debra Parris, who previously pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy for being involved in both schemes, will be sentenced July 7. Gwin sentenced Robin Longoria to one year and one day in prison in the Ugandan bribery scheme.
Cole pleaded guilty to two counts— one of conspiracy to defraud U.S. and Polish adoption authorities and for lying to Polish authorities. Prosecutors dropped charges against Cole for the Ugandan scheme.
Prosecutors accused Cole of profiting off the schemes because her business began to suffer after Russia banned adoptions to U.S. citizens. Defense attorney Edmund Searby said Cole poured her money and her heart into the agency and that, despite her best intentions, she was a poor manager.
The FBI investigation found that Cole and Parris conspired to lie in 2015 during the adoption of two Polish sisters. The Polish government allowed only for the girls to be adopted by the same parents so the sisters could remain together.
A Salt Lake City, Utah, couple visited the girls. But the couple decided they could only handle adopting one of them. Cole and Parris submitted false paperwork that said the family would adopt both. They then gave the older sister to one of Parris’ relatives in Denton, Texas, without notifying either U.S. or Polish authorities.
The older sister went to live with John and Georgianna Tufts. Because Cole alerted no one, the Tufts did not go through vetting by adoption officials, including a background check that would have turned up a domestic violence conviction for John Tufts.
In 2016, John Tufts raped the girl, causing her to need extensive surgeries to repair the damage from what Gwin called a “brutal” crime. Tufts was eventually sentenced to 48 years in prison.
The FBI discovered the scheme after the Tufts were charged in Texas, and agents raided Cole’s office in 2017 after the U.S. State Department banned the agency from international adoptions for three years.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office shuttered the business in 2019 after finding the agency failed to follow through on services it promised to clients. Cole’s business was ordered to pay $260,000 in restitution and $37,000 in penalties.
The FBI’s investigation found that Parris and Longoria bribed judges and welfare officials in Uganda between 2013 and 2016 in order to secure adoptions. The children, however, were found to not be orphaned or abandoned.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Rice, who objected to Gwin’s sentence, said Cole’s actions had “far-reaching damage.”
“The inter-country adoption system is based on trust, and foreign authorities relied on the trust of Ms. Cole,” Rice said. “International relations have been damaged between the U.S. and Poland because of this.”
Adam Davis of Amherst said during the hearing that his family adopted a child and cared for her for about a year. Upon learning that the child had family members in Uganda who didn’t want the girl to be adopted, Davis’ family returned the child.
“Margaret Cole is not just guilty,” Davis said. “Those willing to exploit the poor and commoditize the children of the poor in pursuit of wealth belong in their own nefarious category of inhumanity.”
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