FAYETTEVILLE -- A Springdale woman has been charged by federal authorities, accused of bringing pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the United States to have babies who were then fraudulently adopted.
Maki Takehisa, 39, is charged in U.S. District Court with aiding and abetting alien smuggling, a violation of the Compact of Free Association, which is an agreement between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, according to a federal complaint. The agreement allows Marshall Islanders to freely enter the United States and work but specifically prohibits them coming for purposes of adoption.
Authorities began investigating Takehisa in April 2017 after the FBI received information that she was helping others induce pregnant women to travel to Northwest Arkansas and consent to adoptions.
Four women told authorities that they came to the U.S. specifically to have babies for adoption, according to the complaint. Two women said Takehisa offered to pay them $10,000, pay their airfare and put them up at a house in Springdale until they gave birth, the filing said. One woman said she was paid $6,000, the other said she was paid $4,000, and the money was paid in cash by Takehisa after the babies were born, the complaint says.
Takehisa, of 2006 Cardinal Drive, is being held without bail in the Washington County jail. A federal judge ordered during an initial court appearance Tuesday that she be detained.
In March, Marshall Islands officials charged a Springdale man, Justin Aine, with human trafficking, according to the Marshall Islands Journal.
The March 14 arrest came after years of mounting concern internationally that Marshallese women are being exploited and coerced into giving up their children for adoption to American couples, according to the Journal.
The assistant attorney general charged Aine, 46, with one count each of trafficking in person, unlawful solicitation and monetary inducement, according to the article in the Journal.
Aine is accused of recruiting Susan Koraja, giving her $120 in cash and promising her $10,000 in exchange for her giving up her 1-month-old for adoption when they reached the United States, according to the newspaper. Charged along with Aine were Aiti "Hatty" Anidrep, 49, and Sally Abon, 53, the newspaper reported.
Aine promised Koraja he would help her family move to the United States if she gave up her child for adoption, according to the Journal.
In Benton and Washington counties, at least four Marshallese women since 2015 have been convicted of fraud involving adoptions. In all of the cases, the pregnant women accepted money from two sets of would-be parents and failed to give up the child when he was born.
Metro on 10/03/2019