Parris’ sentencing for selling children from Poland and Uganda through visa fraud and bribery is on Sept. 10th
Updated Sept. 6th
Debra Parris’ sentencing hearing has been reset for Nov. 4th.
Ready for a sentencing hearing on Sept. 12th at noon in Courtroom 18A?
This courtroom belongs to James S. Gwin.
He is a Federal District Judge in Cleveland, Ohio.
The sentencing hearing is for defendant Debra Parris, 69, of Ft. Worth, Texas.
She worked for European Adoption Consultants in Strongsville, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
The case number is 2020-cr-00424.
Parris pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy.
Count one was visa fraud in cases of illegally adopting children from Poland.
Count eleven was Debra’s involvement in a bribery conspiracy to pay off judges to sell children from Uganda.
The other counts were dropped.
Her 22-page plea deal dated Nov. 24th is linked here:
Instead of sentencing via video conference from her lawyer’s office in Texas, Judge Gwin summoned her to appear in Cleveland.
Has the Judge marked Debra Parris as the scapegoat for the sins of selling children through the European Adoption Agency (EAC)?
Parris is free without a bond.
Details are in this story:
Debra Parris anticipates a maximum sentence of:
ten years in jail
fines of up to $500,000
restitution of an amount to be determined by the judge
$200 in Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) booking fees
Her last known location is “Utah”, according to court records.
Only Debra’s boss, Margaret Cole Hughes, was more important to the day-to-day operations of European Adoption Consultants (EAC).
It is still operating.
Details are in this story:
The State Department said EAC illegally sold up to 8000 children from countries throughout the world.
Details are in this story:
EAC was protected for 40 years by the Bush-Barr criminal network.
Details are in this story:
Judge Gwin said the FBI did nothing to stop Margaret Cole Hughes from selling children through her office in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Strongsville.
Instead, it was the State Department who brought the charges, said Gwin.
In fact, 578 defendants in 19 federal court districts who were charged in the EAC criminal network got away with child trafficking and laundering $200 million.
Federal prosecutors only looked at checks amounting to $30,000.
Parris’ boss, Margaret Cole Hughes, was sentenced to three months in jail on May 19th.
Her 84-page sentencing transcript is attached here:
Their co-defendant, Mrs. Robin Longoria, was sentenced on March 23rd to:
one year and one day in jail
restitution of $78,978.70
a prison processing fee of $100
The Judge called EAC a bogus non-profit that ran a child trafficking business.
Federal Prosecutors were too lazy to bring criminal charges for child trafficking against any of the 578 defendants identified by 19 federal court districts.
Neither the Judge, Prosecutors, nor the Federal Department of Prisons (BOP) has made any attempt to enforce Margaret Cole Hughes’ prison time by arresting her.
She has never been booked, fingerprinted, or had a mug shot taken.
Margaret, 74, is free on a $20,000 personal bond without collateral.
She has nothing to lose by skipping town for parts unknown.
The source is the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
https://www.bop.gov/mobile/find_inmate/byname.jsp#inmate_results
By pleading guilty, federal prosecutors agreed to stop prosecuting:
Robin Longoria
Margaret Cole Hughes
Debra Parris Edwards
However, prosecutors never filed criminal money laundering charges against the businesses owned by the defendants.
Is it because federal prosecutors were:
too lazy?
or told to stand down?
Or was it both?
State and county prosecutors failed to do their jobs by prosecuting the same co-conspirators in their local court jurisdictions.
Updated Labor Day
Debra Parris’ sentencing was rescheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m.
