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Victor Maccharoli- Orson Mozes was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, along with orders to pay $771,474 in restitution to the victims.

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Adoption scammer hears from his victims

By ERIC LINDBERG — July 24, 2009

Some called him a “pernicious parasite,” a “sociopath,” and a “master of the con.” They vowed never to personally absolve him and condemned him to “burn in hell.”

Others said they have already granted forgiveness and urged him to seek religious salvation.

Orson Mozes sat apparently unfazed in a Santa Barbara courtroom during a sentencing hearing yesterday, listening to the words of the victims he swindled out of roughly $800,000 through his adoption business.

The 57-year-old continued to show little emotion as the judge handed down a sentence of three years and four months in prison, along with orders to pay $771,474 in restitution to the victims of his scam.

Mozes had agreed to those terms when he entered a plea of guilty on 17 felony counts of fraud and a white-collar crime enhancement earlier this month. He had originally faced 59 counts in connection with an adoption agency he operated from his Montecito home.

Investigators had uncovered a scheme in which Mozes would place Eastern European children up for adoption, promise to hold specific children for prospective parents and collect high fees.

Typically after long delays and mountains of paperwork, Mozes would then inform the hopeful adoptive parents that their child had been adopted by someone else or returned to a family member. Rarely did his clients experience a smooth and timely adoption process, according to court documents.

Dale Allert, the only victim who appeared in court yesterday to deliver a victim impact statement in person, said he and his wife signed an adoption agreement with Mozes in March 2005.

He had seen photos of two sisters on the adoption agency’s website and said Mozes had promised to hold the two girls for a fee.

“We, in good faith, believed Orson Mozes’ statements were true,” Allert said.

After poring over piles of documents and submitting a complete adoption dossier, the Allerts waited for the agency to secure travel to the orphanage where the two girls lived. Months passed and the defendant continued stringing them along with various excuses.

The prospective parents eventually learned from other adoption agencies that “reserving” children is illegal, Allert said, charging Mozes with using a bait-and-switch scam to bilk trusting families out of money.

“Orson used children as bait,” he said, attributing Mozes’ actions to greed, lack of integrity and self-worth, and an inability to tell the truth.

In 2007, the adoption scam started caving in on the defendant, who fled to Florida shortly after divorcing his wife.  In Miami, he moved in with a woman who he has said he plans to marry while in prison.

Despite being featured on the television program America’s Most Wanted, Mozes remained on the lam for more than a year. Law enforcement ultimately picked him up on an unrelated issue and discovered his arrest warrant out of Santa Barbara.

Kristy Chulze believes she may have been one of the last victims of Mozes’ adoption scam. In a statement read aloud by Senior Deputy District Attorney Paula Waldman, Chulze described how she had wired the defendant $3,000 — on top of a $10,000 fee she already paid — just one day before he fled town.

“Did you travel first-class on our dime?” Chulze wrote.

Tina Howard had a longer experience with the defendant, according to her statement read by Waldman. She had been referred to three different boys during the course of two years.

After receiving photos and videos of the first child, and preparing a room for his arrival, Howard said Mozes told her that he had been adopted through another agency due to a mix-up. The second referral ended when Mozes said the boy’s aunt took him from the orphanage.

Howard said Mozes would yell and curse at her on the phone when she questioned him, threatening to stop the adoption process unless she sent more money.

“He emotionally raped each and every one of us,” she wrote. “To Orson, it was about the money. To us, it was about our child.”

While some victims urged the judge to hand down a stricter sentence, Waldman told the court that there is a general sense of relief and closure now that criminal proceedings are coming to a close.

She added that many victims initially didn’t want to write victim impact statements, mainly because they didn’t feel it would make a difference, but she talked a handful into describing their experiences.

“They were hoping that if even just one of [the statements] would get through to Mr. Mozes, it would be worth it,” Waldman said.

The defendant, who sat shackled and occasionally leaned over to converse with his attorney, showed little reaction to the emotional words of his victims.

How he will pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution remains unknown. When authorities arrested Mozes, they also seized $300,000, including sacks of gold coins and a trunk of cash, according to court documents.

But the future use of those funds is unclear. Mozes’ ex-wife, Christen Brown, has sought legal action to award that money to her as child support.

Judge George Eskin, evidently not expecting the barrage of legal documents on the issue that rained down on him in the past few days, asked for a full hearing as he was unclear about new legislation relevant to the topic.

“I’m simply not prepared to wing it off the seat of my pants,” he said, ruling that the funds remain frozen until arguments can be heard during a hearing scheduled for next month.

Mozes, meanwhile, will be transferred to state prison with 225 days of jail time already credited and begin serving his sentence.

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justice indeed : 7/24/2009

While 3.25 years that Orson will serve is nothing compared to the lifetime of family love he robbed from his victims, at least there is some justice. I applaud the families, and especially the law enforcement and legal officials in California who worked so tirelessly on behalf of Orson's victims. Families enter into an adoption process out of love, and it is unfortunate that criminals like Orson take such advantage and make it about the money. When you become a victim of an adoption scam, it isn't just money you are conned out of - you have a child ripped out of your heart, you lose trust in others, you doubt yourself in so many ways. Thank goodness Orson was caught, prosecuted, and will now pay at least in some way for his CRIME.

victim of another agency/facilitator

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More victims : 7/25/2009

Too bad the rest of the victims didn't come forward, a few names read like "whos, who of Hollywood" many wealthy people got their child only after they paid extra in the country of Kazakhstan to Orson's in country co-horts. This is much deeper than taking so many parents that saved to have a child in their life, it is about human trafficking at it's worse. Shame on the country of Kazakhstan for dealing with a criminal like Orson and selling your kids to the highest bidder.

adoptresearch

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3,25 Years~ Due Justice? : 7/25/2009

We were considering signing with Orzon Moses agency after being scammed by another adoption agency with a similar name. Thankfully, we decided on a different agency after a long process of research. Orson's sentence does not seem to do justice for his victims. As agency victims we know the deep feelings of emotional stress, financial loss and plain devastation when a family is scammed by an agency. Unfortunately, many other families today remain victims because their agencies are not brought forth on charges and enormous fee's are rarely reimbursed. Many people are afraid to speak up. Even today, there is so much to do, to strictly regulate international adoption agencies working in the U.S. At least one agency criminal has been prosecuted and he'll finely do some prison time. Hopefully that will give a little peace to the families/victims of Orson's agency(Adoption International Program).

Victim of Russian adoption agency

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Child support?? : 7/27/2009

Mr. Moses lived in a multi-million dollar house with his wife. She had no idea this was happening?? Come on...and child support?? Why does she think she is entitled to money that was obtained illegally?? That would be like someone robbing a bank...getting caught and his wife wanting the money as child support. Doesn't make sense to me at all!!! As for a little over 3 years of jail time...to me it isn't near enough. He has been scamming people for years and years..he deserves at least that long in jail!

disgusted with so called justice

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job well done : 7/29/2009

I am relieved Orson is going to jail. Is his sentence long enough? No. Does it mitigate the pain he caused? No. But I am grateful the Santa Barbara D.A.'s office cared enough to fight for us and thereby prevented Orson from conning more victims if his crimes had not been exposed. The late Laura Cleaves and Deputy District Attorney Paula Waldman and her team should be commended for a job well done.

one of Orson's victim

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Disappointed : 1/11/2010

I didn't know Orson had done this. My daughter went on utube and looked up his name and came up with what had happened. We used Orson 15 years ago to adopt our daughter who is now 20.
At the time he was living in Santa Monica. He had me go to his house and hand over $10000 in cash to him that was for the orpanage. We paid him to adopt a girl from Uzbekistan and he did every thing for us by proxy and granting him power of attorney to bring her here. Everything was went smooth with no problems. We met him, his wife, and Kids. at the LA airport with our adopted girl.
I'm surprised he got greedy and turned into a scum-bag.

shoulda got 7years at least

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