Debra Parris, a 69-year-old woman from Lake Dallas, Texas, pleaded guilty today to orchestrating a transnational scheme to illegally secure adoptions of Ugandan and Polish children through bribery, visa fraud, and deception of U.S. authorities. As a program manager at an Ohio-based international adoption agency, Parris exploited her position to profit from desperate families and corrupt foreign officials, according to federal prosecutors.
Court documents reveal Parris conspired with others to bribe Ugandan officials to fast-track adoptions for American families. Payments were funneled to probation officers to fabricate favorable reports, court registrars to assign cases to so-called ‘adoption-friendly’ judges, and High Court judges to issue fraudulent guardianship orders. Parris admitted in her plea agreement that she continued directing clients to work with co-conspirator Dorah Mirembe, even after learning Mirembe had them submit false information to the U.S. State Department to obtain visas.
In a separate scheme, when adoption agency Executive Director Margaret Cole learned that a client could not care for one of two Polish children, Parris and Cole moved to transfer the child to Parris’s relatives—individuals not legally eligible for intercountry adoption. When the child was later injured and hospitalized, Parris and her co-conspirator agreed to hide their misconduct from the U.S. State Department to avoid scrutiny and continue profiting from the fraudulent process.
Parris pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and commit visa fraud in connection with the Uganda operation, and to conspiracy to defraud the United States regarding the Poland adoption. She is scheduled for sentencing on March 9, 2022, before a federal district court judge who will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors in determining her punishment.
Trial for co-defendant Margaret Cole is set to begin February 7, 2022. Dorah Mirembe, the alleged middleman in Uganda, remains at large and is wanted by U.S. authorities. The FBI’s Cleveland Field Office is leading the investigation, with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jason Manning and Alexander Kramer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Rice of the Northern District of Ohio. The Fraud Section maintains lead responsibility for all FCPA enforcement. Victims of the scheme are urged to contact the Justice Department’s Victim-Witness Program at (888) 549-3945 or visit justice.gov/criminal-fraud/victim-witness-program.
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Key Facts
- State: Ohio
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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