FBI raids home of Internet adoption broker

EL CAJON, California (CNN) -- FBI agents on Wednesday raided the home of the Internet adoption broker who launched an international custody battle after allegedly promising a pair of infant twins to two different families.

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Agents were seen taking computers, boxes of papers, and three children from the house, owned by Tina Johnson. The two infants and one toddler were taken away by Child Protective Services officials, but a spokesman for the agency refused to provide details.

The FBI could not immediately be reached for comment.

The 9-month-old twin girls at the center of the dispute were listed on a Web site called "Caring Heart Adoption," operated by Johnson.

The infants were originally adopted in October by Richard and Vickie Allen of California, who said they paid the adoption facilitator $6,000. But the girls were taken from that couple in December by their biological mother, Tranda Wecker.

Wecker then gave the baby girls to Alan and Judith Kilshaw of Britain, who say they paid the adoption service $12,000. The couple filed for adoption in Arkansas, which began the international custody battle.

The girls are now in the custody of British authorities as their fate is decided in the courts. A custody hearing is set for March 19.

Last week an Arkansas judge ruled the adoption was illegal, saying it was obtained fraudulently and asked for the babies to be returned to the United States.

A lawyer for the Kilshaws, who first spotted the twins on the Internet, said they would appeal against the ruling.

Meanwhile, the Allens announced last week they would no longer seek custody of the girls, after Richard Allen was charged with child molestation of two girls who baby-sat at their home last year.

Richard Allen maintained his innocence, but the couple's 2-year-old adopted son has been removed from the home.

Tranda Wecker of St. Louis is now seeking custody, as is their father Aaron.

UK to decide fate of Internet twins
March 8, 2001
FBI investigates adoption Web site
January 17, 2001

Child Protective Services
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

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