We believed this chapter had ended....Jan of 2006

The stages of our grief were lessened as we prayed for God to guide our tongues and protect our hearts. How we handled all of our emotions during this most painful and confusing time we knew would be mirrored and echoed by our son. Up to this point in his young life, a major disappointment for him had never occurred. As his parents we kept these facts in our sights. We prayed that our actions and reactions would teach our son constructive coping skills there by preserving his hope and strengthening his faith. So while we probably never will understand all the why's of our circumstances thus far on our journey to adopt a daughter, again we consciously choose to just accept and move on unconditionally. A daunting task when the hurt and the defensive anger is just below the surface and ready to rear its ugly head. Somehow, and miraculously Gods love and guidance was ever present and obvious because what we humanly wanted to do and what we did were at opposite ends of the spectrum. We all received the gift of faith.
As the Sapp's chose not to mentioned on their blog a word of the miraculous circumstances surrounding the adoption of their daughter, and the family that loved and lost her, we turned the page silently, as we believed this chapter of our adoption journey which intersected with the Sapp's had indeed concluded.


And so by the third week of February Orson Mozes contacted us again with photo referrals of 2 more infant girls. Seeing the photos below and being told to choose one felt so foreign. When we found our first referral it was us who found her by some circumstance still unexplained. Yet now here was Orson Mozes, who we could no longer trust telling us to chose between these two baby girls.

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Was this really how adoption was supposed to be? Is this how God wanted us to proceed? Having a wounded heart made making major life decision's extremely difficult. We wanted to do the right thing, however we didn't know what that was. We hoped and prayed for some type of sign, some guidance, some clarity to assist us in the decision we were about to make. So for some reason, if you remember way back in the beginning of this rewind I mentioned we had first contacted an agency ( 5 years prior to signing with AIP ) called ASA whose literature and video tape we received and for what ever reason at the time, never even looked at. Remembering I had this information I pulled off the shelf all that paper work and the video in the hope of finding a direction to take. To see and compare agencies. In our search for knowledge, miraculously we received a confirmation. Low and behold when I opened the big manila envelope and poured out its contents, out dropped the agency's "Foreign Adoption Director" business card and this brochure.

 
  ORSON MOZES IS IN THIS PHOTO, WHICH I JUST FOUND OUT TODAY AS I LOOKED AT THIS BROCHURE AGAIN FOR THIS POST.



 

That moment it became crystal clear to us that God was in control of our destiny, and we were where God wanted us to be.
We had contacted Orson Mozes at ASA 5 years prior to signing on with him at AIP, and we never knew it until this day in Feb when we were heart broken over the loss of one child, and told to chose another.
After receiving this confirmation we chose Marina who is the little angel in the second photo. Unbeknown to us at the time this story is far from over...



MAY 1, 2008
SANTA BARBARA NEWS PRESS
Here is the article, and although not seen here a full head shot
photo of Orson Mozes appears today in the Santa Barbara News
Press. I think the solidarity of all of us contacting the reporter
speaks volumes of our resolve. Orson Mozes can run, but he wont be
able to hide for very long. This story describes small snippets of
our pain. When Orson Mozes and his wife Christen Brown owners of AIP
appear in civil court all the evidence will be presented and they
will be held accountable.
This reporter will also be in the courtroom in Santa Barbara when
Orson Mozes faces arraignment on the 62 criminal charges.
Together as a group WE are making a difference as we support each
other, the DA in Santa Barbara and our attorney Joni Fixel who is
handling the civil litigation. I applaud all of our efforts.


Alleged scam victims speak out
KATHLEEN STINSON, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
May 1, 2008 12:00 AM

Seventeen victims across the country in the case of a Santa Barbara
man who allegedly bilked more than 100 people out of thousands of
dollars in an adoption scam have asked the News-Press to tell their
stories in hopes of improving the chances the suspect will be caught.

Former School House Road resident Orson Mozes, 56, is wanted on
felony counts of allegedly taking money under false pretenses and
grand theft by use of the Internet, according to an arrest warrant
filed March 27 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court by the District
Attorney's Office.

Alleged victims accuse Mr. Mozes of promising them the "best" kids --
primarily from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia -- through his agency,
Adoption International Program. Allegations concern taking money and
then not delivering.

"All victims reported they contacted Mozes after viewing specific
available children whose photos were posted by Mozes/AIP on Internet
Web sites," according to court documents obtained by the News-Press.

According to the District Attorney's Office, 66 percent of the
victims in the investigation were unable to adopt any child through
Mr. Mozes and AIP. Another 30 percent were "only able to adopt after
several heartbreaking, expensive and lengthy referrals (of children).
This investigation could only locate three to four families from 2004
to 2007 who successfully adopted their first referral and in a timely
manner."

Since publication of the first News-Press story on April 22,
seventeen alleged victims have contacted the paper. They communicate
with each other via "Stop Orson Mozes AIP" on Yahoo Groups.

Mr. Mozes' whereabouts are unknown.



An e-mail from one of these alleged victims, Ann Young, to other
victims in the case states, "If anyone does any communicating to the
media, or has connections to the media, we as a group stand united
and will speak of our experiences. Our stories and our resolve can
help prevent future innocent adoptive parents from the types of
crimes that were perpetrated upon us. Speaking out puts people like
Orson Mozes ... who run adoption agencies with illegal and unethical
practices on notice."

Another of alleged victim is Candy Bushouse, of Kalamazoo, Mich. In
November 2004, Ms. Bushouse said she saw a photo of an 8- to 9-month-
old girl from Kazakhstan on the Web site, www.precious.org. This site
showed photos of children available through various adoption
agencies, including AIP.

Ms. Bushouse said she contacted Mr. Mozes, who told her to send
an "agency fee" of $12,850 to him at his School House Road address in
Santa Barbara. He also instructed her to send another check for
$5,000 to someone in Kazakhstan to "hold" the child. She said the
money was sent to a named person, not a government agency.

She said she had previously adopted a male child through another
agency and so had her paperwork or dossier required by the U.S.
Government completed. She said the adoption in that case had taken a
total of nine months start to finish.

Ms. Bushouse said she hoped to travel soon to Kazakhstan to adopt the
young girl for whom she had paid a hold fee so that no other family
could adopt her. However, she waited for months to get the clearance
to begin the process in Kazakhstan from Mr. Mozes.

"He really has a temper -- he would scream at me and hang up on me,"
Ms. Bushouse said.

She said sometime during this time, Mr. Mozes called her to say the
girl she had held was gone and offered no explanation. She agreed to
hold another child.

Some months after that, she contacted a couple in Kazakhstan who
checked on the second child referral. They e-mailed her back that the
child was no longer there.

Ms. Bushouse said when she questioned Mr. Mozes about it, he said the
couple was lying, but later admitted that was the case.

In March 2006, Mr. Mozes got a letter of invitation for her to travel
and begin the adoption process -- more than a year after she first
contacted AIP in November 2004.

"When you're over there (Kazakhstan), you're almost helpless -- you
have no clue if the interpreter" is being honest, Ms. Bushouse said.

She said she thinks Mr. Mozes's crime is that he charged too much for
everything.

"All the costs were inflated," she said.

Ms. Bushouse said when she arrived at the airport in Kazakhstan, Mr.
Mozes required her to pay "close to $8,000" for her lodging, which
was an eight to nine-week stay in an apartment while she went to
court.

She said the woman who lived next door to her at the apartment spoke
English and told her the apartment cost $200 a month including heat.
She said she nearly froze in another apartment Mr. Mozes provided on
the way back because the heat kept going on and off.

"I had to threaten to take pictures of the apartment to the U.S.
Embassy to get a warmer apartment," Ms. Bushouse said.

She said the adoption cost just under $50,000, about $13,000 more
than her other adoption.

Alleged victims Ann and Chris Young, of Calverton, N.Y., contacted
AIP in 2005.

Mrs. Young said Mr. Mozes told her to FedEx $12,850 as an "agency
fee" to his address on School House Road to "hold" a six-month-old
child.

Mrs. Young said it took six months to get her paperwork done. The
United States requires all those who adopt, including those adopting
overseas, to prove their fitness through interviews, F.B.I.
fingerprints, tax records and tax statements.

Ms. Bushouse explained the reason many people prefer international
adoptions is because they are "closed" and the birth parents cannot
come back and contact the child.

She said while she was waiting for approval paperwork from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security before traveling to Kazakhstan, she
saw the child she had paid Mr. Mozes to hold on a blog that said the
child had been adopted by another family.

"He would put a beautiful picture of a Gerber baby up on the Web
site" and in at least one case, she said, she knew that two people
paid to have the child "held" for them.

"Mr. Mozes' crime was promising us this child would be ours and that
none of his other clients would be able to adopt the child once she
was held, and taking our money," Mrs. Young said.

She said she was able to adopt through AIP after losing multiple
referrals she had "held."

Ms. Bushouse said they stayed with Mr. Mozes ultimately because they
had too much money invested to start over with another agency.

"I had wanted to bail out, but after investing too much money, you
can't afford to back out and start over paying fees," she said. "It
just takes too much time and too much money to change to another
agency."

Several of the victims filed a civil lawsuit in January 2008 in
Pennsylvania against Mr. Mozes, alleging violations of the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.

Any person having information about the whereabouts of Mr. Mozes may
contact Laura Cleaves, supervising investigator with the Santa
Barbara District Attorney's Office, at 805-737-7885.

e-mail: kstinson@newspress.com

Attempting to Understand

 

Rewind of our adoption journey continued:

This is an email we received on 1/27/06 from the Sapps. Just about 2 months almost to the day we found out we lost our referral, whom they had adopted. As you can see in the header of this email it is a response to the Welcome Home email (located in a previous post titled Welcome Home) we had sent them. To say this email hurt would be an understatement. Our hearts still ached with our loss. Holidays spent grieving and attempting to heal. And in this email barely an acknowlegement of what we had, and were going through. Again we didn't hold the Sapp's responsible for our situation, however we thought they would be a bit more sensitive to what we were going through. Knowing how they felt when they lost Marina and Leo, I was a taken back they would even ask to post our referral picture's on their blog. We had emailed the Sapp's all of our photo's as a gift of our hearts. And while my response to this email was something like "as she is your daughter do with the pictures as you wish", seeing our referral photo's posted on their blog without so much as a mention of how they came to have them, only compounded the pain we had experienced losing her. It felt as if we never even existed. Maybe we were just to sensitive at the time. We were at a loss to understand how they could post our referral's picture, and then remain silent about the circumstances and the miracle surrounding her adoption. Although it was painful to see our referral photo's of the baby girl we fell in love with, and believed with all our hearts would be our daughter on their blog, we respected their decision, and also remained silent about the loss of our first referral when it became our turn to travel and to blog of our adoption story.
http://young-family-adoption-miracle.blogspot.com/


LITIGATION UPDATE
Welcome to Brett & Deanna Heinrich to our litigation group. We are currently amending the complaint to add the Penny’s and the Heinrich’s information.

We are so very proud of your ability to pull together and get the press coverage of the AIP/Orson mess. I know it is painful to bring up all of the memories but you truly are doing other unsuspecting PAPs a favor by exposing the ugly side of International Adoptions.

Have a great weekend – they are predicting snow for us here in Michigan.

Warm Regards,

Joni M. Fixel

Fixel Law Offices, PLLC

4990 Northwind Drive, Ste 121

East Lansing, MI 48823

(517) 332-3390

(517) 853-0434 ** new fax number

Santa Barbara Press Reporter kstinson@newspress.com

I was interviewed today about our experiences with AIP and its owners Orson Mozes and Christen Brown. There will be another article about our story and the up coming civil suit. When it appears in print I will post it to this blog. All this media attention could help the DA's office locate and apprehend Orson Mozes. I have posted the reporters email address in case anyone reading this blog has information they would like to share.

Also the following yahoo board has many members who have been victimized by Orson Mozes and we are united in our efforts to stop him. Many of our stories can be found there. The civil complaint and arrest warrant documents are also posted there in the file section.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StopOrsonMozesAIP/members


I will continue this rewind and the telling of our adoption story in its entirety shortly.

Duped Mother Speaks Out About Orson Mozes

WANTED: Orson Mozes (KSBY)

WANTED: Orson Mozes

Article in Santa Barbara News Press

Santa Barbara News-Press Article Message List

Reply | Forward | Delete Message #1702 of 1711 < Prev | Next >

Warrant issued for alleged adoption scammer : Man supposedly took
thousands of dollars from 62 people
KATHLEEN STINSON, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER


Orson Mozes is shown in a 1990s photo .
COURTESY PHOTO


Joe and Dawn De Lorenzo, of Woodbridge, N.J., were never able to
adopt a child through Adoption International Program. A warrant for
the arrest of the company's owner , Orson Mozes, has been issued.
COURTESY PHOTO



April 22, 2008 7:19 AM

The Santa Barbara District Attorney's office has issued an arrest
warrant for a Santa Barbara man who allegedly bilked 62 people out of
thousands of dollars in an adoption scam.

Former School House Road resident Orson Mozes, 56, is wanted on
felony counts of taking money under false pretenses and grand theft
by use of the Internet, according to an arrest warrant filed March 27
in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

Alleged victims accuse Mr. Mozes of promising them the "best" kids --
primarily from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia -- through his and his
wife Christen Brown's agency, Adoption International Program.
Allegations concern taking victims' money and then not delivering.

"All victims reported they contacted Mozes after viewing specific
available children whose photos were posted by Mozes/AIP on Internet
Web sites," according to court documents obtained by the News-
Press. "Many victims state that upon contact with Mozes, they were
told they needed to immediately set up a FedEx account and then send
an agency fee, generally between $7,000 and $11,000, in order
to 'hold' the specific child and remove the child's picture from the
Web site, so that it would not be available to other prospective
adoptive parents."

Victims said they were directed to send money via FedEx to Mr. Mozes
at his School House Road address, the declaration states. In return,
victims received a packet of forms and contracts from AIP by e-mail.

According to the District Attorney's office, 66 percent of the
victims in the investigation were not able to adopt any child through
Mr. Mozes and AIP. Another 30 percent were "only able to adopt after
several heartbreaking, expensive and lengthy referrals (of children).
This investigation could only locate (three to four) families from
2004 to 2007 who successfully adopted their first referral and in a
timely manner."

"Nearly all the victims who were still in the adoption process with
Mozes/AIP found themselves left with nothing, when Mozes
suddenly 'disappeared' in June 2007," the declaration states.



Laura Cleaves, supervising investigator for the District Attorney's
Office, who opened the case in 2005, said she has been in contact
with the FBI and Interpol to try to track down Mr. Mozes.

"I'm hopeful we are going to apprehend him and I'd like to do it
sooner than later," Ms. Cleaves said.

The arrest warrant does not name Ms. Brown.

Two alleged victims, Joe and Dawn De Lorenzo, of Woodbridge, N.J.,
were never able to adopt a child through Mr. Mozes' adoption agency,
despite giving him more than $75,000 and making three successive
attempts to adopt a child beginning in April 2006, Mrs. De Lorenzo
told the News-Press.

Mr. Mozes "is an emotional rapist," Mrs. De Lorenzo said. "He has
taken more than words can say. He's taken three 'sons' from us,"
referring to the infants she and her husband tried to adopt through
Adoption International Program.

Mrs. De Lorenzo said she and her husband gave Mr. Mozes money
to "hold" a child for them until arrangements could be made to travel
to the foreign country to go to court. In December 2006, she said Mr.
Mozes told them suddenly and with no explanation "your son is no
longer available." By that time, she said they had the child's
pictures up all over their house, told family and friends, and had
heavily invested their hopes.

"We were dreaming about the child and had a nursery up," she said.

Mr. Mozes then suggested they "hold" another child -- and wire money
to do so -- which they did.

Court records state that Mr. Mozes provided detailed instructions to
numerous victims on "how to wire money, and in some cases instructed
victims to lie on the forms stating the purpose of the funds being
wired."

Mrs. De Lorenzo said she was led to believe the foreign country was
corrupt. She said they also continued to cooperate, in part, because
they had many thousands of dollars invested.

In February 2007, the De Lorenzos flew to Kazakhstan to try to adopt
the second child.

She said someone connected to the adoption agency met them at the
airport to collect the latest installment -- $10,000 in cash. She
said the girl who met them insisted they give her the money in the
restroom where there were no cameras, which they did.

Next, they flew to a city to "bond" with the child, as is required by
Kazakhstan law. Bonding involves meeting with the child for two hours
a day for two weeks at the orphanage. During this time, she said Mr.
Mozes forced them to stay in an apartment at a cost of $175 a day.
They were not allowed to stay in a hotel.

Mrs. De Lorenzo said she thinks the orphanage was in "cahoots" with
Mr. Mozes -- how else could she have gotten the child's pictures?

She said she had been vocal in questioning Mr. Mozes' methods and
felt that he was not happy with her for that reason.

"On the 10th day of bonding, we were brought into the office and told
the baby's mother reappeared," she said. "We had just thrown a
birthday for the child (the day before). I was very public on the
blogs and I believe he purposely told the orphanage director to say
that to break my heart."

So ready were the De Lorenzos for a child, they agreed to try a third
time.

They went through the bonding process and set up a court date, she
said. The court granted the adoption on the condition they wait 17
days to allow for objections. During this time, the child's mother
objected, although she had previously abandoned him, according to
Mrs. De Lorenzo.

They went to court three more times to fight the objection, but
finally had to return to the United States to continue their
employment.

After returning home, she said they received a letter written in
Russian, which the couple had to pay to have translated.

The letter said the case was closed because they had failed to show
up to court on the appointed day. They had understood someone was
handling the matter there for them.

Mrs. De Lorenzo said she next told Mr. Mozes she was upset and
planned to turn him in to the authorities, whereupon he "skipped
town," she said. Sometime later, she apparently came across Mr. Mozes
on the Web site Match.com, on which he stated his "turn-on" was power.

"I think he got a kick out of manipulating people's emotions and
having power to control such a large part of their destiny," Mrs. De
Lorenzo said.

e-mail: kstinson@newspress.com

I emailed this reporter and will be interviewed today about our adoption story.

Reflections of our adoption journey...

As we approach Christmas of 2005 and are waiting for our I600 approval, the reality of our situation takes hold. We found ourselves in emotional limbo searching for answers and a clear indication of the direction to take. I read, reread, copy and paste a timeline from the Sapps blog as a means to try and understand what transpired, when and why.
While we remain sympathetic to the Sapps and in no way hold them responsible for the situation we found ourselves in, we knew Orson Mozes had lied to and deceived us. And by now the Sapps also are acutely aware of this fact. Orson Mozes was directly responsible. There was not a "Big Mistake" made.


















The pain reflected in our sons eyes, and throbbing in our hearts was a direct result of Orson Mozes's delibrate actions, his arrogance and his greed. Orson Mozes knowingly baited us with a photo listing and required payment of his agency fee to "hold" this child by letting "all other interested AIP clients" know she would not be available. Orson Mozes spoke of the long time relationship he had with the director of the baby house as he had been in the adoption business for 15 years. Never once did Orson Mozes inform us that photo referrals are illegal in Kazakhstan, or that another AIP client could, or for that matter that any agencies client could adopt our referral. The only Kazakhstan law Orson Mozes explained was that a family member or citizen of Kazakhstan could lay claim to and adopt our referral. This information Orson Mozes explained explicitly and in hind sight now we understand why. This law provided the perfect excuse for Orson Mozes when his client is finally paper ready to travel to adopt their referral on "hold" but has been adopted by another AIP client.
The evidence is compelling especially after reading below, the comments chronologically that Orson Mozes posted on the Sapps blog during their adoption in Ust Kamenogorsk. Orson Mozes knew exactly what child the Sapps were adopting, as a 5 year old girl they originally planned to adopt and travelled blind to find, was not available. So to forfill the Sapps desire for a daughter, the Sapp's were shown our referral. The child Orson Mozes declared would be "held" for us. Hense the switch. It is my opinion, Orson never anticipated we would find the Sapps blog. When the time came for us to travel, he would have emailed us (as he has done to others both before and after us, we came to realize) and tell us "your referral is no longer available". Remember the only Kazakhstan law explained explicitly? Perfect crime because it was virtually impossible to verify if your referral was claimed by a birth parent,adopted by a citizen of Kazakhstan or adopted by another AIP client.
In living this nightmare the gamet of emotions one experiences on so many different levels is collosal. It was so difficult not to strike out. It took an academy award winning performance to speak to Orson Mozes on the phone and not attempt to destroy him with words. We were acutely aware that Orson Mozes knew he had us right where he wanted us. Paid up and vulnerable.
We had to be smarter than Orson Mozes,so we plotted our next move. Instead of expressing the raging anger we felt (which would have been counterproductive), we remained vunerable in demeanor when speaking with Orson Mozes. We let Orson Mozes believe, we believed his lies that this situaton had "never happened before". We told Orson Mozes we trusted he would do his best for us. Orson Mozes in turn promised he would. We wanted Orson Mozes to trust us. We knew, Orson Mozes knew we had evidence of his illegal and unethical practices, and she was adopted by the Sapps. A blog documentation of the timeline and events leading up to the adoption of our referral was publically posted on the internet and available for download and copy to file.
The fact that Orson Mozes used the Sapps blog to deceive all who read it into believing their adoption of Natalia was a direct result of Orson Mozes/AIP's HONEST efforts disgusted us. (In our hearts we knew God was in control of Natalia's destiny and she was where she was meant to be). However it also hurt and surprised us that the Sapp's allowed these comments on their blog, and then placed a thank you testimonial on AIP's then web sight. This was not a man or adoption agency deserving of promotional testimony which could possibly attract other unsuspecting perspective clients.
While we did and do feel the Sapps were just as much the victims as we were, the ends didnt justify the means as far as we were concerned. We have since wondered, how the Sapps would have felt reading those comments and testimonial post on AIP's web site had the situation been reversed.

Below are the exact postings from Orson Mozes to the Sapp's blog. Blogging was relatively new and for Orson Mozes/AIP, now a gold mine of free testimonials and advertising. Touching stories to perpetuate the client money pipeline. Orson's greed clouded his vision. Blogging became the vehicle that ultimately destroyed AIP.
Judge for yourself, and I await the day a jury hears this case, reviews all the evidence and Orson is held accountable and judged by a jury of his peers.




Orson said...
We am so happy for you. It is so much fun watching you dream come true from Orson and all the gang at Adoption International Program.
8:34 AM
POSTED 10/21/05
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Orson Mozes said...
We are all so gald that your court date is sooner than expected. We are all following your blog and think you are a wonderful family. It seems everyone over there thinks the same. Lots of love from Orson and the gang at AIP.
10:59 AM
POSTED 10/22/05
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Orson Mozes said...
Hi Michelle and Chris; it's Orson I get an update everyday regarding your family. I am sure your court day will be fine. Lots of love. Again the blog is great. Everyone at the office is reading it everyday.
6:49 AM
POSTED 10/28/05
______________________________________________________________________________________
Orson Mozes said...
Congradulations Chris and Michelle. I am so happy for the both of you and your family. You are wonderful clients.

Orson Mozes
Foreign Adoption Director
Adoption International Program
12:24 PM
POSTED 10/31/05
______________________________________________________________________________________
Anonymous said...
Hi Chris and Michelle! It's Molly! I'm filling in and doing some work at the agency today so I got to get a full update and check out your blog! I'm SO thrilled to see the absolutely ADORABLE children you've found! I can't tell you how happy I am for you and for Mateo and Natalia! Congratulations to you both and I hope your journey home is safe (and quiet!)- and yes, they do have things like ambien for babies.... doubt you'll be able to find it until you get home, though! hang in there!

Molly
3:32 PM
POSTED ON 11/28/05
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Orson Mozes Foreign Adoption Director said...
Well; your almost home now. It has been quite a journey with you guys. Their have been a lot of ups and downs. One thing that I will say; is that I am very grateful to have worked with your family through it all. I feel that no one could have been better clients and parents. You are both a wonderful example of how parents should go through this journey and not lose sight of today. You have always done your best to stay in the moment; because as we all know, that moment will never will come again, so that is life. Being present in it is all we have. Most of the worries we worried about never come to pass. I am grateful to have worked with parents such as the both of you. What a wonderful blog. You have helped so many by letting all of us experience your point of view during this journey. I could not even begin to think how lucky Matao and Nataliya are to have you and you them.

Your friend for ever Orson
10:36 PM
POSTED 12/02/05


Litigation Update

Christen Brown has obtained counsel in Philadelphia. She has hired the firm of Cozen O’Connor (http://www.cozen.com ) and the attorney assigned is Robert W. Hayes. Our local counsel advises that this firm does a lot of insurance defense – it remains to be seen whether there is insurance coverage or not (we will find out in discovery).

A stipulation will be entered with the Court today to allow us 45 days to amend the Complaint and then Christen has 45 days to answer the complaint. This will allow any additional families to join and gives us time to draft the Amended complaint. This seems like a long time to drag out the beginning of this lawsuit but this is not a typical lawsuit and the complexity will cause some delays in timing.

Warm Regards Joni M. Fixel
Fixel Law Offices, PLLC
4990 Northwind Drive, Ste 121
East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 332-3390
(517) 853-0434 ** new fax number

Update on Orson Mozes Adoption Scam

Sarah Wallace Channel 7 Eyewitness News

Tonight at 6pm on channel 7 Eye Witness News there will be a follow-
up to an Investigative report conducted by Sarah Wallace which
originally aired in Sept 07. The original report contained interviews
with families who agreed to relive and publicly share their
adoption experiences with Orson Mozes and AIP in an attempt to stop
the victimization of future perspective adoptive parents. These
stories are compelling and heart wrenching.
Since the airing of that original report and as you will see tonight,
a criminal investigation has culminated in the issue of an arrest
warrant for Orson Mozes.
Also 14 families have join together and a civil suit has been filed
in order to bring Orson Mozes, his wife Christian Brown and their
adoption agency AIP to court to be held accountable for their illegal
and unethical practices. This litigation will send a loud message to
people and agencies like Orson Mozes, Christian Brown and AIP here in
the USA.
Because International Adoption is an unregulated industry it is my
opinion that as an adoptive parent we have a moral obligation to
share our stories in order to educate others as to what can and does
happen when you contract with an agency such as AIP who's practices
are illegal and unethical here in the USA. This sharing can prove to
be a powerful tool in the regulation of future International
Adoptions.

Here is the link to the video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=A4l3kL7GM1c

Welcome Home

 

The Sapp's arrived home safely on Dec 8, 2005 with their beautiful children Mateo and Natalia and to a future of firsts ahead of them.
The email above is one I sent in hopes that the Sapp's would feel our sincere wishes for health and happiness as they begin their lives together as a family.
Being a mother already, and knowing the Sapp's knew intimately the devastating loss we were experiencing as they too had lost referrals, my concerns were for Michelle.
As we were dealing with the pain of losing Natalia, and knowing the effects the loss of Marina and Leo (the Sapps first referrals) had on Michelle, I worried she could feel badly having adopted another families referral. I empathised how I would feel in that same situation and because of that empathy I wanted Michelle to know what was in our hearts and that we would be alright. I didnt want an emotional cloud hanging over the parents who were adopting the child we fell in love with. A cloud created because of the unethical and illegal practices of Orson Mozes and AIP.
The life lessons and gifts of faith we experienced and subsequently taught Christopher our son, were lessons we will carry with us, and draw from throughout the rest of our lives. The three of us, consciously through our pain chose to accept our loss as an unanswered prayer, and to celebrate the Sapp family miracle as the will of God. The Sapp's and the Young's will forever share a chapter in their adoption stories, and our daughters Natalia Sapp and Leah Natalya Young have a miraculous beginning chapter to their adoption stories.
Orson because of his own greed got it all wrong and victimized both our families however, God even uses people like Orson, and God doesn't make mistakes. The Sapp's daughter Natalia was created by God to be their Natalia, and our Natalya created by God was still waiting for us to arrive in Ust Kamenogorsk, but not before our faith is yet again tested to the max....

Civil Law Suit Update/Criminal Case Update

As promised this is an up date on the progress to bring AIP, Orson Mozes, Christen Brown and Kevin Anderson to justice.
With regards to the civil suit both Christen Brown and Kevin Anderson have been served. Orson is still amongst the missing right now. Below is Joni Fixel's web page

ADOPTION INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM LITIGATION

Current Status

On January 10, 2008. a lawsuit was filed on behalf of 14 families who were victims of fraudulent adoptions by Adoption International Program, its directors and management. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Allegations include breach of contract, fraud, violations of the RICO Act and various other Federal and State laws. The families have been victimized by the predatory behavior of this agency and its directors.

WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP?

When the Defendants have been served the Summons and Complaint, the court will order a scheduling conference. A scheduling conference allows the parties involved in a lawsuit the ability to map out a timeline for discovery of evidence to either prove or disprove the allegations in the lawsuit.

3/20/08

AIP as a corporation and Christen Brown were officially served with the lawsuit today. Kevin Anderson has previously been served. Orson Mozes is still considered "missing".
How can I join the lawsuit?

Our office is now receiving information from interested parties who wish to join the lawsuit. If interested a note can be sent through this website by filling out the questionnaire or sending an e-mail to Joni Fixel at jfixel@fixellawoffices.com .






Below is an update from the senior investigator in the DA's office in Santa Barbara that was posted on the Stop Orson Mozes Yahoo Board http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StopOrsonMozesAIP/members . If anyone reading this blog has any questions please feel to email me, contact Joni Fixel the attorney for the civil suit or Laura Cleaves the Senior Investigator in the Santa Barbara's DA's office.

RE: [StopOrsonMozesAIP] Re: lawsuit


Hello All,

Kathy-you are listed as a victim in my report, along with 61 other victims (each couple and each single parent counts as a victim for our investigation). The Chief Assistant DA has approved my report and the legal secretaries are preparing the 62 felony criminal charges as I type this email! As well as copying my binders with the thousands of pages of evidence that all the victims provided in the form of questionnaires, emails & photos from Orson, contracts, etc. (Those of you who provided these items at the risk of opening old wounds and heartaches-I can't thank you enough!) I believe, and the Chief ADA agreed, that we have a very compelling case!! The D.A.'s office is filing 62 counts of section 532 of the California Penal Codes (Theft by False Pretenses).

I prepared the affidavit in support of an arrest warrant this morning and I am asking the judge for $1 million dollars bail, I should have the arrest warrant shortly. I have begun looking for Orson with the assistance of the Sheriff's Dept and I will be contacting the FBI today or tomorrow to see if they will assist in what is known as a "UFAP" warrant. (Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution), it has to be issued by the US Attorney and is simply an additional tool in arresting persons that we believe to be outside the country.

So now the hunt will begin, I have some thoughts on what countries he may be in, and quite frankly he may still be in the US, I am of course open to any information any of you may have about his whereabouts...I think as "unique" a character as Orson is, he will have difficulty in hiding out for very long......

Also, I still would love to get information from any additional victims of Orson, if you have not provided info to me previously or if you know any other Mozes/AIP victims that you can convince to come forward.....Just last week I had an email back from a victim I had sent several emails to but had never received info from. He finally wrote saying he had not responded before because he did not take my letters/investigation seriously and had written off ever getting his money back or seeing Orson brought to justice. When he read my last update, this victim realized that I was serious about my investigation and bringing Orson in to face criminal charges. So the victim became number 62 to provide his info and evidence.

I am serious, this investigation/case is serious, The D.A.'s office is serious...Orson Mozes will be a wanted fugitive facing 62 felonies by week's end.

Laura J. Cleaves
Supervising District Attorney Investigator
805-737-7885

As I continue to re tell our adoption experience in its entirety, you will learn from my perspective why we felt compelled to join with the above victims to stop the unethical and illegal practices of AIP and Orson Mozes. While we did successfully complete an adoption of a wonderful daughter we could not have a "an ends justifies the means attitude". We wanted to be a part of a movement to protect perspective adoptive parents (who willingly take that leap of faith to adopt internationally) from people and agencies like AIP and Orson Mozes.

Receiving the gift of Faith

The process of grief is much like the children's book "Going on a Bear Hunt". When the children run into obstacle's on their bear hunt, like long wavy grass or a big muddy river, the answer is always "we cant go over it, we cant go under it, we must go through it. Our grief, we realized was much like that. To begin to heal we had to go through it. We also knew we needed God's help. So we cried our tears and shared with each other our feelings of loss and disappointment. Then we asked for the gift of faith.
Because of the Sapp's on line blog we were able to watch from a distance the transformation in Natalia' eyes and her whole being. The photo's we looked at and loved for 6 months were of a tiny baby with a sadness in her eyes. As the Sapp's began loving and nurturing Natalia those sad eyes began to twinkle. It was in those twinkling eyes we witnessed the powerful miracle of love. Being able to see this miracle unfold before our eyes gave us such a feeling of hope, that our faith was renewed.
It was then we decided that our referral pictures should be shared with the Sapp's. In sharing our referral photo's with Chris and Michelle Sapp, we took that final emotional step of letting go. We emailed all the photos Orson had provided us of Natalia to the Sapp's because we knew they didn't have these photos as they met Natalia when she was just about 12 months old. Our referral photos were of a 7 month old Natalia. They were our gift to the Sapp's.
Today anyone who can read the Sapp's blog and view the montage of photos they have put together about their adoption journey, can also witness the same miraculous transformation of which I speak, as our referral photos (the youngest photos of Natalia) reveal her sad eyes.