Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20150518

How does it feel seeing them . Doing this again . Makes me sick. Wait till you see what we found when we took our cameras undercover. So we are talking 7,000. Total, about that. This woman was offering her baby for adoption. But was she even pregnant . Is that a pillow . It looks like a pillow. What about adoption agencies careful as they should be. I will say on the form i dont do drugs. I am actually a correspondent with dateline nbc. A hidden camera investigation. Im lester holt. And this is dateline. Here is Andrea Canning with hope heartbreak. Reporter adoption can be a time of joy. It was probably the most amazing moment of my entire life. Reporter but its also a multimillion dollar industry. Its just been unbelievable and eyeopening. Reporter the transactions impact peoples lives. It sounds like youre describing buying a house. Right, but its a baby. Reporter and the outcome is anything but certain. I say, its all a gamble. Reporter because for the thousands of families who successfully adopt each year, there are others whose adoptions fail. The pain you suffer is very similar if not the same as the death of a child. Reporter tonight youll meet some families whose adoptions didnt turn out the way theyd hoped. Its hard to know who you can trust now. Reporter would you say that you were the perfect prey . Yeah. Oh yeah. Reporter with our hidden cameras well go undercover inside the world of private adoption. I want to be able to get as much money as i can to be honest with you. Reporter and well find out sometimes its hard to know whats real and what isnt. Im trying to find out the truth about whats going on. Are you even pregnant . Chris and amy lehmkuhl had known each other since high school. Newly married they were excited to build a family, close to where theyd grown up in yuba city, ca. But they were struggling. I was pregnant and had a miscarriage. Yeah, about a year after we got married. Reporter that mustve been pretty heartbreaking. Pretty awful. It was a terrible experience, yeah. Reporter after the miscarriage came ten more years of disappointment. Doctors appointments and a failed round of ivf treatment didnt bring chris and amy the baby theyd longed for. Did you find yourself wanting children more and more as you kept facing this heartbreak . I did for sure. I never have thought about my life without children. Never. Reporter chris and amy decided to try adoption. They began looking for a pregnant woman interested in giving up her baby. You can do this a number of ways through an agency or even on your own. But chris and amy hired an attorney who put them in touch with a 24yearold pregnant woman living out of a michigan motel. Her name was Heather Burgess shed talk about her parents. She would talk about her childhood. It was just normal conversation. Reporter she put you at ease . Yeah absolutely. Reporter you felt like this could be the one . Oh, we knew it was the one. Yeah. Reporter chris and amy were thrilled when heather said she wanted them to adopt her baby. They agreed to pay heathers Living Expenses for the last few months of her pregnancy, and moved her into an apartment. You mustve been excited. Yeah. Yeah, we absolutely. We were very excited. Reporter paying a birthmothers Living Expenses is legal in most states. But it doesnt guarantee the adoption will happen. A birthmother can change her mind at any time during her pregnancy. Still amy and chris were confident heather wouldnt. We spent i think about three days total with her. Reporter two months after theyd started supporting heather, amy and chris flew out to meet her face to face. We went to see movies together. I took her shopping for maternity clothes. Reporter amy even went with heather to the doctor for an ultrasound. How special was it for you to be able to go to this ultrasound and actually see ye that reporter the baby . It was it was amazing. I mean you know, having not had a pregnancy go that far to be able to go to an ultrasound myself it was really exciting for me. Reporter heather handed amy copies of the ultrasound pictures telling her she was a mother now. I immediately was, like, calling family saying, its a boy. And heres his name. Reporter but two weeks later everything changed. The manager of the apartment amy and chris were renting for heather called with terrible news. The apartment manager said, heather has left her apartment. She told her neighbors to take whatever they wanted and she was gone. Reporter what a blow it was awful ive been through a miscarriage and ive been through that and theres no difference. Reporter they had sent heather nearly 9,000. Theyd come to think of the baby she was carrying as their son, but heather had vanished. The birth mom can change her mind at any time. Right yeah reporter no matter how much money youve given them, no matter how much time youve spent with them, how much youve invested emotionally, it could just be over like that. Yeah. And we always knew that. Reporter but amy didnt think heather had changed her mind. She suspected heather had duped her. And she ended up being right. When you hear the name Heather Burgess what goes through your mind . I need to get her in jail. Shes hurt so many families. Reporter shelia davis, head of a non profit Adoption Agency in michigan says heather is a serial adoption scammer. She says heather took money from her clients, also potential adoptive parents, when she wasnt even pregnant. How was it so easy for her to take peoples money . First off con artist. Shes an artist at her trade. She really makes you sympathize with her. And she really brings you into her world. Reporter shelia reported heather to the michigan police. She was arrested and pleaded guilty to larceny. But skipped town before sentencing and it was while heather was on the lam that she moved into t for her by chris and amy. Thats kind of for me was a little bit of a scary thought. I mean, it was like did we just aid and abet a criminal . Reporter by the time she connected with chris and amy, heather was really pregnant. But it turns out even though chris and amy were the ones paying her bills. Heather was shopping her baby to other adoption professionals, asking them for money too. Did you feel stupid . Did you feel like, how could we have believed her and not seen signs . I dont think i ever felt stupid. That may be because of the emotional hurt but i never felt stupid. I mean shes just that good. Reporter chris and amy contacted their local Sheriffs Department and investigators tracked heather down to a hotel in california. She was arrested and pleaded guilty to fraud. Why did you pursue charges . For me it was that i didnt want it to happen to anybody else. Reporter heather was sentenced to spend a year in jail but shelia davis didnt think that was the last shed hear about heather. There was part of me even then knew she wouldnt quit. Reporter was shelia right . We decided to go undercover and find out. You wont believe what we caught on our hidden cameras. Are you even pregnant . You havent seen the last of heather. When we come back. Shes at it again, using a different name, but playing the same game. And shes got just one thing on her mind. So were talking about seven thousand dollars . Total about that. How do we ensure you are going to choose us . Its a trust situation. I really like pillows. Maybe too much. Go ahead, call me a hoarder. Ive got these little enablers ziploc spacebags. See . Way more space. [whispered] for more pillows. Sj johnson so if you have a flat tire dead battery need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geicos emergency roadside assistance is there 24 7. Oh dear, i got a flat tire. Hmmm. Uh. Yeah, can you find a take where its a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah . Yeah i got it right here. Someone help me i have a flat tire well its good. Good for me. What do you think . Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. You are loved in so many ways thats why youre wrapped in the blanketlike softness and protection of pampers swaddlers so all you feel is love. Pampers lysol knows the soft places we love could be home to thousands of bacteria. But lysol disinfectant spray can help protect your family because it can also be used on soft surfaces. It kills 99. 9 of illness causing bacteria wont stain and leaves your soft surfaces with a light fresh scent lysol the 1 pediatrician recommended brand. Reporter chris and amy lehmkuhls dreams of an adoption had been crushed by a scammer. Shed promised them her baby and then disappeared after taking their money. And their hearts. I think at that point i felt like this was just never going to happen. We were thinking, i think we give up. Just wasnt meant to be reporter that all happened ten years ago. And while there are no solid statistics on how many prospective parents fall victim to birthmother scams each year, nanette williams, a veteran of the adoption business, says the problem is getting worse. Describe the business you got into 18 years ago versus the business youre in today id come across a scam once every three months. I just had three in one month. Reporter what are the tricks . I knew one girl that went around with an artificial stomach she stole from a maternity store. Reporter nanette is an adoption facilitator. She charges prospective parents a fee to connect them with pregnant women, a practice thats legal in california. But she says even she cant always tell whether a birthmother is a scammer or not. I could have the girl right there with me and she could still be a total scam. She could be pregnant but she had no intentions of placing that baby. But she knows all the right things to say. Reporter is the end goal for these birth mothers money . For some, not for all. Ive had girls say, i dont want a dime. Theyre wonderful. Reporter when we met nanette she was trying to track down a birthmother she had suspicions about. Her name was michelle. Shed recently disappeared after promising her baby to a california couple this couple gave her how much money . I want to say there was roughly around a 2000 Exchange Reporter nanette texted michelle asking her where she was. She says shes in las vegas reporter michelle asked nanette to get the couple to send her more money. And fast. If they wont i want to say that means help me. How they going to treat my baby . Reporter we went online to see if we could find michelle. Adoption professionals sometimes share information about birthmothers on adoption websites. And it didnt take long to find this message asking about her. It looked like michelle was fishing for money elsewhere. Shes a piece of work. Shes unbelievable. Reporter we wanted to meet her in person. So a dateline producer called her and said he was interested in adopting her baby. Michelle sent him a photo of her pregnant belly. Then she texted us again and again asking for money. Her boyfriend left us this voicemail. We havent eaten all day. You know my girlfriend is pregnant. Eight months pregnant. Could you do something, like soon . Reporter we sent her a small amount of money for expenses and asked to meet in person. Turns out she wasnt in las vegas. She was in pennsylvania. There she is getting into the car we sent to pick her up. Take a closer look. Does she look familiar . Well she should. Turns out michelle is none other than Heather Burgess, the woman who scammed chris and amy all those years ago. How surprised were you to learn from us that heather or michelle or whatever shes calling herself is still at it all these years later . I mean, not surprised that shes still doing it. I mean, thats how she makes her living. Reporter in the car, rigged with our hidden cameras, heather didnt say much to her boyfriend or to us. Was she nervous . And what was she adjusting under her sweater . As the car made its way towards us, we set up our hidden cameras in a restaurant. Two dateline producers were there to meet her, posing as prospective adoptive parents. Reporter this is michelle . Hi, how are you . Reporter take a seat. Take a seat. We already knew that heather was lying to us about her name. We wondered what else she would tell us. So how are you feeling . Im feeling good. Its just hard to sleep and stuff and move. Reporter and how do you feel about giving up the baby . I cant let my feelings get involved with whats best for the baby. I cant feed the baby. I cant do anything for this baby. So why not give it a better life you know . Reporter and are you working with anyone else . Talking to any other no. Reporter couples . Uhumm. Reporter we knew that was a lie. Remember shed just taken 2000 from a couple in california. I just want to make sure that youre not talking to anybody else and that if you choose us, youre gonna keep your word. Right. I would never do that. I wouldnt put your hopes up or expectations high. I need somebody thats committed to this child and thats gonna raise the child. And you know give the best that they can get reporter we had asked them to come up with a list of their Living Expenses they would need help with like utilities, food, and housing. To like, move to an apartment, it would be one months security and one months rent to move in. So it would be 2400. Yeah 12 hundred a month. Reporter so were talking about seven thousand dollars . Talking about that. Reporter okay, but how do we ensure that youre gonna choose us . Its a trust situation. Yeah. Reporter its all about trust. Yeah. Pretty much. Reporter while she may have thought she was fooling us, we had a few surprises for her too. Because heather wasnt our only lunch guest that day. Shes such a liar. Reporter caught on camera by one of the couples she scammed. Reporter the woman sitting across from us at this restaurant table said her name was michelle, she was 35 weeks pregnant and interested in letting us adopt her baby if we gave her 7000 she said she needed for her Living Expenses. And are you working with anyone else . Talking to any other . No. Reporter couples . Uhum reporter problem was, we knew michelle was really Heather Burgess, a known adoption scammer. And that shed already promised her baby to another family and had taken 2000 from them. Is there anything that we should know, about your past that we should just be aware of . I just want to make sure we know everything. No. I come from a really healthy family. Reporter have you ever been in trouble with the law . No. No. Reporter neither one of you . No, i got a ticket for speeding. Reporter oh, a speeding ticket. Thats it . Just a speeding ticket . Yeah. Reporter what heather wasnt telling us was that she has an extensive criminal record that includes convictions for fraudulently taking money from adoptive parents like chris and amy lehmkuhl. We invited them to watch from behind the scenes as heather tried to get money from us. We cant like keep the baby cause we have no jobs we cant raise the baby. So i figured we might as well just put the baby up for adoption. Shes such a liar. I sent you a picture of the ultrasound. Oh my gosh. God. Reporter how does it feel seeing them doing this again . It makes me sick. Its sickening that you know theyre preying on people the way that they are. Reporter how has the pregnancy been for you . Its just been tiring because im older so, like, im just tired all the time. Reporter and perhaps this was the biggest lie heather told us that day. Remember how shed been fidgeting with her sweatshirt in the car . We kept looking at her belly across the restaurant table. We werent sure she was even pregnant. It was time for me to introduce myself. Here she is. Do you guys mind if i sit down for a second . I told her i was a friend of the prospective parents, who were really our producers. I couldnt handle it you know if it didnt work out. So, you know, i did look into it and i found something that you are actually working with another couple at the same time is that true . No, were not working with anybody. You guys are the first people that weve met. That weve met or talked to. Reporter so theres not a couple in california that youve taken money from . No. No. Reporter okay, i was afraid you would say that because weve been looking into adoption scams and my name is Andrea Canning, im a correspondent for dateline nbc. Are you even pregnant . Yeah. Reporter how far along are you . Im 8 months. Reporter and, can i feel your belly . Who are you . Reporter im trying to find out the truth about what, whats going on and what you guys are doing. And i dont know if i should be calling you michelle or heather . Is your real name heather . Youve done this before. Is that a pillow in there . It looks like a pillow. Do you have anything to say . Are you gonna call like im just gonna go. Reporter heather and her boyfriend didnt stay to answer my questions. We offered them a lift back to the motel but they walked off. How was it for you two kinda reliving that through someone elses eyes and watching it again unfold . You know, to me its frustrating. Its frustrating to know that that is still happening. Reporter then as our shoot wrapped up, we spotted heather and her boyfriend a few blocks away. And guess what, she no longer looked eight months pregnant. That bulge under her sweatshirt was gone. Heather . It looks like your belly is gone. You took your pillow out . A few minutes later heather came back round the corner. She found chris and amy waiting. Of course you dont remember who we are. Do you remember who we are . Reporter heather do you have anything you want to say to chris and amy . Im sorry. You should be sorry. You dont realize how youre hurting people. I really dont think youre sorry. I really dont think you care. Reporter she apologized to you . She you know what she was sorry for . She was sorry she got caught. Reporter and chris may have been right because a few days after our meeting, the phone rang in nanettes office, that california adoption facilitator. The callers name was new but nanette said the voice sounded awfully familiar. She said it was heather claiming once again to be pregnant. And looking for money. Is she not realizing that you might actually recognize her voice from before . She doesnt remember who shes called, shes called so many. Reporter so is there anything adoptive parents can do to protect themselves . As our journey continues, ill be going undercover to find out. You just saw us confront an adoption scammer on our hidden cameras. But even if couples dont contact a birthmother directly, there are other ways things can fall apart in the adoption process. Next well introduce you to a group of parents who say they had a different kind of problem than the couple you just met. They didnt have a problem with a birthmother. It was with an Adoption Agency. She kept saying well theres another family interested. Are you gonna match tonight . Are you gonna match tonight . Reporter it sounds like youre describing buying a house . Right, but its a baby. Reporter when dateline continues. In this moment your baby is getting more than clean. Your touch stimulates her senses and nurtures her mind. And the johnsons® scent lather and bubbles help enhance the experience. So why just clean your baby when you can give her so much more™ . Huh, 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. Everybody knows that. Well, did you know that game show hosts should only host game shows . Samantha, do you take kevin as your lawfully wedded husband. Or would you rather have a new caaaaaar say hello to the seasons hottest convertible. Ohhh. And say goodbye to samantha. [ male announcer ] geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more. Have you tried new dove advanced care . Advanced care . 48 hours. It feels nice. Very, very smooth. Im not messing around its soft. Your antiperspirant should give you more than just protection. New dove advanced care. For softer, smoother underarms. Why am i so awake . Did you know your brain has a wake system. And a sleep system . Science suggests when you have insomnia, the neurotransmitters in your wake system may be too strong, which may be preventing you from getting the sleep you need. Talk to your doctor about ways to manage your insomnia. Reporter we just told you the story of a fake birthmother who cheated wouldbe parents out of their savings and their dreams. Would you say that you were the perfect prey . Yeah yeah. Oh, yeah. Reporter these families feel like they are victims too, but their story is very different. They dont blame an unethical birthmother, they blame the head of a state licensed Adoption Agency for the problems they experienced trying to adopt. I dont know how people that do things like this can sleep at night. Reporter new jersey couple Kate Moriarty and Maggie Steffen signed on with a houstonbased Adoption Agency in 2013. The owner, Simone Swenson, promised to guide them through the process. She said, sometimes its gonna feel bumpy and its gonna feel rocky and its gonna feel difficult because thats adoption. Sometimes its hard. Reporter for a fee of 9500, simone connected kate and maggie with a texas woman who was four months pregnant how exciting was that . We just were feeling on top of the world that we, in a few months, were going to have a baby home with us. Thats what we thought. Reporter simone said shed be their liaison with the birthmother and try to make sure things were okay. Over the next few months, kate and maggie sent simone 5000 to pay for the birthmothers Living Expenses, and prepared a nursery for the baby they called charlotte. Did you see this baby as your baby already . Absolutely. It was yours . Absolutely. She was named and she was claimed and we were ready for her to come. Reporter but when the excited couple arrived in houston to pick up their daughter, simone told them the birthmother had backed out on them. That she was a scammer. We just both started crying and shaking and like saying, i cant believe this is happening. Reporter simone even filed a report with the local police accusing the birthmother, a woman named tammy, of fraud. Who were you most angry with at this moment . Tammy. Reporter and that might have been the end of it, except kate and maggie wanted to do an accounting of their failed adoption. So they asked simone to send them receipts for the money theyd spent. She would not give them to us and gave us a different story every time we asked for them. Things were starting to really seem unprofessional, but there was something probably much more. Reporter they grew suspicious, and started tracking down other people whod worked with simone. And thats when they found out something they consider incredible. They werent the only couple who thought they were going to adopt tammys baby another couple had paid simone thousands of dollars for tammys Living Expenses too. We know that we all paid birthmother expenses for tammy until august. Reporter if kate and maggie were right, simones agency had done something adoption experts say is unethical and may be even illegal. Take money from two families for the same baby. Its called double matching and it means double the money for the agency. Kate and maggie believed it was simone who was the scammer, and not their birthmother. Wanting to be a mom, its just you have something in you that wants this to work out so badly and someone is taking advantage of that. Its its just the lowest of the low. Reporter we examined the emails simone exchanged with the two couples. It appeared she billed both a fee to match with tammy and charged both money for tammys Living Expenses. She also gave them updates on tammys condition just days apart. Neither couple got tammys baby, and they both wondered where the expense money they had sent her had really ended up. That really makes you question what the reason is for all of this and where the money is going . Reporter the families gathered around this table all come from different parts of the country and all walks of life, but they have one thing in common they all paid Simone Swensons agency for adoptions that never happened. How much are we talking about . 24,000. And we lost a total of about 14,000. Over 10,000. We lost 30. All the families agreed that simone made an Excellent First impression. Shes easy to talk to and she sounds professional. Reporter but when it came time to match them with a birthmother and collect her fee, they say simones charm turned into a hard sell. She kept saying, well theres another family interested. Are you gonna match tonight . Are you gonna match tonight . It sounds like youre describing buying a house . Right, but its a baby. She was relentless. She wouldnt back off. She just could not wait for us to send our money. Reporter then they say simone seemed to drop the ball completely. The minute she got, you know, she would get the money and then the phone calls wouldnt get returned. Ten days after the last due date that we were given we waited to see if she would contact us. And we never heard anything. Reporter in the end, none of these families got babies through simone. In most cases, simone blamed the birthmothers for backing out, but the families suspected she might not be telling the whole story. How many of you around this table feel that Simone Swenson lied to you . All of us. I think really the question is, what did she say that was the truth . Reporter they say simone never sent them detailed receipts for the thousands of dollars theyd sent to pay their birthmother expenses. And just like kate and maggie they think simone wasnt just disorganized. She was dishonest. I felt like she took so much away from us. The money really doesnt matter. She took away a dream that we had to have another child, and thats what hurts the most. Reporter so what was going on . We decided to go undercover again and meet Simone Swenson for ourselves. Reporter first, we meet simone as prospective parents. We do have a current birthmom right now that im willing to send you guys the information on. Reporter then andrea meets her undercover as a birthmother, who raises a tricky topic, and gets a surprising answer. Im gonna say on the form i dont do drugs. Okay. Reporter when dateline continues. Aleve pm. The first to combine a sleep aid. Plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. For pain relief that can last until the am. So you. You. And you, can be a morning person again. Aleve pm, for a better am. New lipton sparkling iced tea. Refreshing tea infused with light, crisp, tiny bubbles. For a taste that lifts you up. Are you so congested. It feels like that bricks on your face . Try zyrtec®d to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms. So you can breathe easier all day. Zyrtec®d. Find it at the pharmacy counter. Music throughout whatever wakes your baby at night pampers believes it should never be a wet diaper for up to 12 hours of protection pampers of all the places in your house, this ones the busiest. So you want it to be the cleanest. Thats why you need lysol. Because when you use bleach, some stains are left behind. As this dye reveals. Lysol toilet bowl cleaner does more. It removes the tough stains that bleach doesnt and it also disinfects. So why just bleach . With lysol you can do more. Thats healthing. And get max cleaning and freshness with every flush. Try lysol no mess max. Hello this little beauty here is topoftheline. See, you just pull like this to go left. And like so to go right. Where are the brakes . Uh, just grab ahold of both and pull straight back. And the whoa is optional. You wouldnt buy a motorcycle without handlebars. No thanks. And you shouldnt ride a motorcycle without geico insurance. Roadside assistance, 24 hour service, great rates. Geico motorcycle. See how much you could save. No other scents feel like glade. Uplift your attitude with our clean linen fragrance. Feel fresh and new. Feel glade. Leftovers. The unsung hero of meals. They get reheated. Renuked. And rebaked. And when leftovers are done. Theres always stuff left over. New dawn platinum power clean calls dibs on those. It powers through tough, driedon messes in seconds. Even 48 hour stuckon food. So go ahead, triple that recipe a drop of dawn and grease is gone. Reporter the people sitting around this table blamed the same agency for their failed adoptions. And they were all grieving for the babies they never brought home. Its been hard. I feel like ive probably gone through some depression. And im Getting Better about crying, but i cry a lot. My four year old son would say prayers every night and he would say a second prayer for baby sister and he would get to the end. I promised myself that i wasnt gonna cry. Reporter its ok. He would get to the end and hed say why is mommy crying . Reporter they all filed Police Complaints about Simone Swenson, the owner of the agency. And last year, the fbi took over the investigation. It was really hard to swallow that someone or some agency thats licensed by the state could take advantage of us and another family and another and another and another. Reporter we decided to make an appointment to meet simone and find out what shed tell us about her agency. Very nice to meet you. Two dateline producers met her in a houston coffee shop, posing as a couple new to town and interested in adoption. What is it that you know about the adoption process . Reporter ive heard mixed stories. It is a very gut wrenching process. Reporter simone told us adoption was risky. There were no guarantees. Its really not us. Its this crazy mom whos actually pregnant and i say crazy for lack of a better term. Reporter but she said it was part of her job to check these birthmothers out. Some of our moms are druggies. And so if we suspect it, well, you know, we always let the family know. Reporter she told us shed charge 12,500 for her services and wed pay some money for the birthmother Living Expenses too. Were probably the lowest in the industry in terms of fees. Reporter and she had a better track record than most. We probably had ten failed adoptions last year. Reporter ten out of how many . 45 i want to say. Something like 45, 50. Reporter ten failed adoptions last year . That didnt sound right to us. Just among her former clients wed spoken with, wed identified nearly twice that. How long would we probably end up waiting to find a match . If you come to me and say i want a white child and were not gender specific i could probably match you today. Reporter at this point, simone knew hardly anything about us. In texas, adoption agencies are expected to check out prospective parents, through a home screening, before they connect them with a birthmother. Simone didnt ask us if wed been through that process before telling us she might have a birthmother for us. We do have a current birthmom right now that im willing to send you guys the information on. Reporter and youre confident about her . As long as she gets her bills paid thats it. Reporter it all seemed very fast, just like those families told us. Remember, simone gets paid when she connects a family with a birthmother. Even if the adoption falls through later. So we wanted to know how carefully she really screens her birthmothers. Its her job as the hired professional to assess the risk and then sell it as a package with risk. Reporter all the families we spoke to had signed contracts acknowledging their adoptions might fall through. But they said simone didnt honor her part of the contract. To try to figure out whether the birthmothers were on the up and up. Do you believe she made reasonable efforts to verify what the birthmothers were saying . No. No. No. Reporter we decided to meet with simone one more time as our hidden cameras rolled. This time id be posing as a woman interested in giving my child up for adoption. It was an easy disguise for me as i was actually seven months pregnant at the time. We told simone we had recently arrived from florida. So you guys want to work on an adoption or . Reporter yeah, i just wanna know more about it. Simone said first things first, she would need me to take a pregnancy test. We would do proof of pregnancy. We have to do one. Reporter then she told me what money i could expect. We cover your adoption related expenses which include housing, food, transportation, you know, all that kinda stuff. Reporter are some babies more sought after or . Yeah, white baby girls are more sought after. But reporter so you cant get extra money. Tell me what your expectation is in terms of money. Like, what is it that you want . Reporter i want to be able to get as much money as i can, to be honest with you. Okay, well, what about 5,000 . Thats kind of the highest. Reporter in our meeting simone insisted she dealt honestly with everyone and said shed work fast to find us a family. In fact she mentioned some prospective parents shed met very recently. Actually i have a family i just met with yesterday. Theyre moving to one of the more expensive areas in town. Reporter could she have been talking about the dateline producers shed met the day before . Remember simone knew hardly anything about their backgrounds but that didnt seem to bother her. This family i met yesterday, just, theyre wonderful people reporter so how carefully would she check out my story . I dropped a big hint that i might be doing drugs. I mean this is a really awkward quesiton for me. But like i have to ask it. What if you dont want to be drug tested . I cant force you to be. This is the thing, im here to help you guys. Im not here to force you to do anything. Reporter but do you have to tell the parents if im if i know about it, yeah. Reporter you will tell them . If i know i have to if i know about it. Reporter but you can say you didnt know about it, right . Well, heres the thing, right . If i ask you are you doing drugs . And you tell me, no, i have to go based on that. Reporter simone did say it was better to tell the truth. We dont want a family to say yes to lies. Reporter but was she willing to look the other way when i all but admitted i planned to lie . Im gonna say on the form i dont do drugs. Ok. Reporter shelia davis, head of a michigan Adoption Agency, was shocked when we showed her that part of our meeting. She told us if a birthmother had said the same thing to her as id said to simone, she would insist i take a drug test. We can only approach the doctor to test if we have suspicions or if we see evidence of it. Reporter would that not be suspicious enough, me asking her . That is. That is enough reporter i may be doing drugs . That would be enough. That would be enough, absolutely. Reporter and there was something else. In most states the babys father has a legal right to know about an adoption before it happens. Not telling him could put the adoption at risk. But listen to how simone reacted when i said this. I dont want the birth father to know. Ok. Reporter i know who it is. But i dont think im not going to tell him. Ok well dont tell me. Reporter why . If you dont tell me, i dont know who he is. If we know who he is we have to look for him. So unethical. So unethical. And in my state it would be illegal. Reporter i just gave her a key piece of information. Yep, wow. Reporter so if i had met with you and i told you im not gonna tell you who the birth father is. I know who it is. Might be on drugs. Wanna get as much money as i can. Would you have alarm bells going off just about me in general . Huge. Huge. Reporter it was time for simone to find out who i really was. Im actually a correspondent with dateline nbc. Oh. Reporter simone didnt want to talk then, but later she did. Whats herside of the story . I was undercover at a houston coffee shop, posing as a birthmother interested in adoption. Reporter wed come to meet Simone Swenson, the head of a houston Adoption Agency, after hearing from some of her former clients who thought she had cheated them. So you guys want to work on an adoption . Reporter it was time for simone to find out who i really was. You dont lie to the families . I do not lie to the families. No reporter well i mean thats kinda why were here today cause im actually a correspondent with dateline nbc. So were actually looking into you because weve had a lot of complaints from prospective parents, a lotta complaints. Do you have anything to say about that . Yeah i dont think its oh gosh. I dont wanna do this. Reporter and also that you have been double matching birth moms to multiple families. Simone didnt stick around to talk to us that day but later she agreed to sit down and answer some of our questions, including what shed told us in our hidden camera meeting. Heres the thing. If i ask you, are you doing drugs and you tell me no i have to go based on that. Reporter when i met you in houston, i strongly hinted that i was probably doing drugs. Correct reporter and when i told you that i was going to write on the form for prospective parents that i wasnt doing drugs, you said, okay and that you would just have to go with that. Right. Reporter you kinda looked the other way. Well i didnt look the other way. What i said was they can write whatever they want on that form and thats fine. We would let a family know we suspect that theres drugs involved. Reporter simone says it is up to the birth mothers to disclose personal information or not. But how would she explain why she told me it was ok to keep the name of the babys father a secret . I know who it is but im not gonna tell him. Okay, well dont tell me. Reporter that could be a serious issue down the road and it could jeopardize an adoption. Well as far as the birth father goes i would need to, again we all, we met and you there were all of these questions. Its not necessarily how it happens. You would fill out reporter but you said you didnt want to know. You said dont tell me. Okay i dont necessarily remember telling you that. Reporter you did. Okay. Reporter simone asked us to pause the interview. And then she told us this. We always want to inform the birth father if you know the name. But we would have gotten into that later down the road, after you had really decided if you wanted to place for adoption. Reporter but you said i dont wanna know right away. Probably cause reporter that was you first instinct. I didnt wanna know right that second. Reporter simone gave the same reason for not asking our producers, posing as prospective parents, more questions about their background. She said she would have done it later. As for the families complaining about her, simone said they were lashing out at her because their adoptions had failed. I think theyre angry with me because there needs to be somebody to blame to be honest with you. Reporter simone told us she always warns her clients about how risky adoption can be and has offered to rematch those unhappy families with new birthmothers. This is a passion for me. This is a business but its also something that i believe in because i was adopted myself. Reporter simone says her priority is finding safe homes for babies. Not the money she can make. But what about the allegation that she took money from kate and maggie and another family for the same child . Both sets of prospective parents were sending money. We have the documents. We have the emails to prove it. As far as kate and maggie go, what happened with that process is we matched kate and maggie with a birthmother. And that birthmother was a difficult birthmother who kind of came and went. Simone says she was considering connecting kate and maggie with a new birthmother. We had two birth mothers and we had two families. And we are in the process of figuring out which family was going to be of cause sometimes we change those up with the familys permission. Reporter well these emails make it clear that there is one birth mother, tammy, two families. Okay these emails make it clear that were we are informing both families about the same birthmother, which were allowed to do, because we are child placing. Reporter when both of them are sending you money for the same mom. Theyre not both sending us money for the same birthmother. Reporter thats what these emails showed that they both have sent you money for tammy. And remember we had two birth mothers. Reporter no theres one birth mother that both families are speaking of. Theres one birth mother in that email. Reporter simone told us she follows the law, and that she sent all her clients receipts to show the money she collected for the birthmothers went to them. But according to inspection reports filed by the Texas Department of family and protective services, simone has been cited numerous times for failing to keep proper financial records. In fact, one inspector noted simone had no system in place to track transactions. We just have person after person after person saying yeah, i dont know, andrea. Reporter that you arent doing the things youre supposed to do. And that this is the end game is you. Not the babies, not the birth mothers, not the prospective parents, but Simone Swenson is in this for herself. I would say thats not true. I wouldnt exploit children for money. Reporter six of the families we spoke to have filed a lawsuit against simone accusing her of negligence and fraud. Simone told us the lawsuit is baseless and full of lies. She put us in touch with four former clients who successfully adopted through her agency. She worked with me until she got it done. It took two years but weve got our son. Reporter for now, simone told us she is getting out of the adoption business. She wants to move on. Moving on may not be so easy for some of the families we spoke with who say they have lost their money. And their trust. So the money ran out . Yeah. It was our life savings. Reporter so what can people do to protect themselves against the risks of adoption . Adoption expert shelia davis says until the laws change prospective parents will remain vulnerable. Legislation needs to take the profit out of making an adoption plan until then, she has three basic rules for parents. Never send birthmothers money directly and always work with licensed professionals. But most important of all do your homework you have got to check things out. You have got to research before you sign up with an agency or before you pay anybody money. Reporter chris and amy lehmkuhl were so devastated s. By their experience with fake birthmother Heather Burgess they gave up on domestic adoption altogether. They headed to china and brought home their precious daughter rachel. So everything youd been through was all worth it . Yup. Oh yeah. Reporter kate and maggies journey ended happily too. After their texas adoption fell through they signed up with an agency closer to home. Last june, there was a baby in their nursery at last. Their darling daughter charlotte. Adoption is a miracle and it does work. You know, its about bringing people together who wouldnt normally get together, for something really good and we just hold onto that. For now. Im lester holt. Thank you for joining us. Killed an ice isz commander. Just how big a b low is this to the terror group . Also, the amtrak crash. I thought i was a goner. I think most of us did. I think just so violent. Does this tragedy end up sparking a bigger debate on rebuilding america . Plus jeb bushs terrible horrible, no good very bad week on iraq. Would you have authorized the invasion . I would have. And so would have hillary clinton. How his brothers past is haunting jebs future. And republican candidates suddenly all opposed to the iraq war. Leading that charge, rand paul. He joins us exclusively. Finally float like a bee and sting like a