WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2021) A woman from the US state of Texas has pleaded guilty to schemes to organize the adoption of children from Uganda and Poland into the United States by means of bribery and fraud, the Justice Department said.
"A Texas woman who was a program manager at an Ohio-based international adoption agency pleaded guilty today in the Northern District of Ohio to schemes to procure adoptions of Ugandan and Polish children by bribing Ugandan officials and defrauding US authorities," the Justice Department said in a release on Wednesday.
According to court documents, Debra Parris, 69, of Lake Dallas, engaged in a scheme with others to bribe Ugandan officials to procure adoptions of Ugandan children by families in the United States, the release said.
"In her plea agreement, Parris also admitted that she continued to direct the adoption agency's clients to work with her alleged co-conspirator Dorah Mirembe, after knowing that Mirembe caused clients of the adoption agency to provide false information to the Department of State," the release added.
Parris pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and commit visa fraud in connection with the Uganda scheme and conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with the Poland scheme. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9, 2022, according to the release.
