Alleged adoption scam involved phony cancer tale

By wire services
Published June 10, 2005

BRADENTON - When Maria and Spiro Paizes heard a cancer-stricken woman wanted to find a couple who would adopt her 11-year-old daughter, they stepped in to help.

The couple wanted to adopt a child. They spent more than a month getting to know Wendy Terns and her daughter and spent an estimated $5,000 hiring an adoption attorney and giving Terns money, groceries and clothes, Maria Paizes said. They bought her a plane ticket to New York, where Terns said she planned to meet with her ex-husband to gain custody of the girl.

But when Terns grew distant and did not sign the adoption papers, the Paizeses grew suspicious. Maria Paizes, a registered nurse at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, asked around and learned about other couples who had fallen for a scam that sounded similar.

Maria Paizes filed a report with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office on April 26. An investigation determined Terns had swindled at least two more couples and two other people, area church groups and other agencies with the same story, sheriff's officials said.

Terns, 34, was arrested Wednesday and jailed on a charge of scheming to defraud. She remained in jail Thursday in lieu of $1,000 bail.

OCALA - Police arrested three people and the state yanked the day care license where they worked Thursday because a 3-year-old boy was left in a hot van for three hours after a field trip to a pizza parlor.

The Department of Children and Families ordered Oakcrest Early Education Center to shut down. The youngster remained in critical condition at Shands Children's Hospital in Gainesville.

Regina Lavonne Brown, 32, of Williston and Amina Francois, 26, and Katrice Robinson, 22, both of Ocala, were released Thursday from the Marion County Jail on $5,000 bail each. Each was charged with child neglect due to culpable negligence.

Authorities said a day care center employee getting ready to clean the van found the 3-year-old lying unconscious on a seat.

The center has until the end of the month to request an administrative hearing with the state to appeal the suspension.

TALLAHASSEE - Three former state Republican Party chairmen said Thursday they support Tom Gallagher's bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2006.

Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, and Attorney General Charlie Crist are in the Republican contest. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa, former state Democratic Party chairman Scott Maddox and state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua are the Democrats in the race.

The former GOP chairmen favoring Gallagher are Al Cardenas of Miami, Tom Slade of Jacksonville and Van Poole of Tallahassee, who served with Gallagher in the Legislature during the 1970s when Republicans were the minority. The three - now all prominent lobbyists at the Capitol - led the GOP in Florida from 1989 to 2003 as Republicans took control of state government.

"Their good advice and wise counsel will be a key asset to our campaign," Gallagher said in a prepared statement.

[Last modified June 10, 2005, 01:10:11]