The last of the five people associated with an embattled adoption agency was sentenced to five years probation Tuesday.
Dan Wakefield, 72, appeared in court to hear his sentence, which was equal to the sentences of four others accused of the fraudulent adoption of dozens of Samoan children.
In January, Wakefield; Scott Banks, 47; Karen Banks, 48; Coleen Bartlett, 52; and Karalee Thornock, 36, all pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of aiding and abetting the improper entry of an alien. As part of the plea agreement, the adoption agency, Focus on Children Corp., also pleaded guilty to a felony count.
Judge David Sam sentenced Wakefield to five years probation, a lifetime ban from participating in the adoption business, and he ordered him to make monthly payments to a trust account that will be established to benefit the children who were adopted.
After the hearing Wakefield declined to comment on the sentencing.
The Bankses were the owners of the Utah agency, which adopted a total of 66 children, mainly from Samoa, to families in about 13 U.S. cities.
Prosecutors said the group misled the birth parents in Samoa into believing that their children would be sent to a family in the U.S. and then returned when they were 18. Prosecutors also alleged that families in the U.S. were led to believe that the children they adopted were orphaned or abandoned.
— Ethan Thomas